Operation of the Tax Agency, National Police and Civil Guard

• The boarding was carried out by the patrol boat 'Condor' of the Customs Surveillance Service 150 miles from the islands.
• The six crew members of the Brazilian-flagged ship arrested
• The drugs were hidden in a compartment specially built for this purpose in the engine room of the fishing boat.

May 12, 2023.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, the National Police and the Civil Guard, in a joint operation, have intercepted a fishing vessel 150 miles from the Canary Islands, named 'Efesios 5-20', 25 meters long, and flying a Brazilian flag, which carried inside more than 1,500 kilos of cocaine divided into 60 bales, according to first estimates.

The boarding by the Customs Surveillance patrol boat 'Condor', on which National Police and Civil Guard agents were boarded, has been carried out in a context of harsh weather conditions. During the course of the operation, the six crew members of the fishing boat were arrested, five of Brazilian nationality, including its captain, and one of Venezuelan nationality.

The narcotic substance was in a specially constructed compartment in the engine room of the fishing vessel to conceal it and make it difficult to find during an eventual inspection of the vessel. The choice of the machine room is not a coincidence on the part of the criminal groups, given the working conditions in it, due to the noise of the machine and the high temperatures.

The operation, the result of international collaboration through the Center for Analysis against Maritime Drug Trafficking in the Atlantic (MAOC) and coordinated by the Center for Intelligence with Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), has been carried out under very adverse conditions. due to the existence of a force 7 storm and strong winds.

In addition to the weather conditions, there is the added difficulty of sailing back to port with a fishing boat in poor condition, with a leak in the machinery area, and whose engines stopped in the middle of the night.

The operation culminates today with the arrival of the 'Condor' and its dam at the port of Las Palmas for the unloading of the drugs and the placing of the detainees at judicial disposal by the Customs Surveillance, National Police and Civil Guard.

Atlantic route

This operation is added to those already carried out by the Tax Agency and the Security Forces in the fight against drug trafficking in the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by sailboats, fishing vessels and merchant ships that, coming from South America and the Caribbean transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for later introduction to the European continent.

On this occasion, the fact that the small fishing boat was so close to the Spanish coast has caught the attention of the researchers, since normally transshipments take place at a greater distance.

The success of this type of action is the result of the excellent collaborative work between several European and national organizations (MAOC, CITCO) and the different police and customs forces, as well as, in this case, the cooperation of the Brazilian authorities.