Operation of the Tax Agency, National Police and Civil Guard

• At the time of boarding by the Customs Surveillance vessel 'Fulmar', it was observed that the cargo ship was transporting 200 tons of coffee as declared merchandise, well below the ship's actual capacity.

• The conditions of the naval operation have been very complicated due to the situation of the sea and the large dimensions of the vessel, 100 meters long.

January 20, 2023 .- The Tax Agency, in collaboration with the National Police and the Civil Guard, has intercepted a cargo ship named 'Blume' and flag of Togo 80 miles east of the Canary Islands. with more than 4,500 kilos of cocaine. The 15 crew members of the boat have been arrested in the operation. The boarding of the ship, carried out by the Special Operations Vessel 'Fulmar' of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, was highly complex, given the state of the sea and the large dimensions of the cargo ship.

The operation begins as a result of international collaboration in which investigators from the Customs Surveillance Service, National Police and Civil Guard, based on the exchange of information produced between the Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC-N) and the of Intelligence Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), determined the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of illicit drug trafficking from South America.

As a consequence, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency established the air-naval device and sent its ship 'Fulmar' to locate and, finally, board the freighter in the early hours of the 18th.

At the time of the boarding, it was observed that the freighter was transporting about 200 tons of coffee as declared merchandise, well below the ship's actual cargo capacity, which caught the attention of the officials in charge of the operation.

Subsequently, in an inspection of the common areas of the cargo ship, the presence of an undetermined number of bales usually used for cocaine trafficking was detected, so at that time the 15 crew members of the vessel were arrested. two citizens of Albanian nationality and 13 of Pakistani nationality, as well as the intervention of the ship, which together with the detainees has been transferred to the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Difficulty of boarding

The boarding conditions have been very complicated due to the sea situation and the large dimensions of the ship. Despite this, the quick action of the 'Fulmar' and its crew has prevented any possible transfer of the narcotics to other vessels, which would have compromised the detection of the cache.

Both the detainees, the boat, the drugs and the police proceedings will be placed at the disposal of the Central Investigative Court acting as Guard of the National Court.

This operation, directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, is added to those carried out to date on the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by fishing vessels, merchant ships and freighters that, coming from South America, They transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for later introduction to the European continent.