Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

• Seven people have been arrested and a total of 80 burlap bales containing the narcotic substance have been seized.
• In seven searches in various towns in Huelva, vehicles, boats, jet skis and even long firearms and simulated weapons have been seized.

February 22, 2024.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, the Civil Guard and the National Police have arrested seven people for belonging to a criminal group and drug trafficking who introduced hashish into our country from Morocco through transfers on recreational boats.

These actions have been developed within the framework of the Special Security Plan for Campo de Gibraltar. Operation 'Ciprux-Obras' has investigated a criminal organisation based mainly in Huelva and dedicated to the transport and introduction into our country of large batches of hashish from Morocco. To do this, they had a series of boats, both fishing and recreational, which operated from different ports located on the Huelva coast.

During the investigation it was found that these people were in charge of the maintenance, custody and management of the vessels, with several industrial warehouses where they kept them to modify their structure, mainly with double bottoms or 'hides' in the hull to hide the drugs.

Once modified, they were docked in different ports from where they operated completely normally, carrying out tasks related to fishing or recreational activities to give an image of legal activity.

During this investigation it was discovered that they could be able to transport a significant amount of hashish. In order to stop their trafficking, a large police operation was established around the main suspects and the vessels that had been previously identified.

These boats used to enter through the mouth of the Guadiana River and transfer the drugs on the high seas.

Once one of them was located, the vessel was boarded and inspected, detecting a double bottom in the hull that housed 40 burlap bales containing hashish, weighing approximately 1,400 kilos. The two crew members were arrested during this operation.

Shortly afterwards, the second boat was found docked in the marina of Ayamonte (Huelva) without anyone on board. After being inspected, another double bottom was found, similar to the one found in the first warehouse, with 40 more bales of hashish, also weighing 1.4 tons.

During the operation, the agents arrested five more people and searched seven private homes in the towns of Ayamonte, Isla Cristina and Aljaraque-Bellavista, as well as a nautical company, an industrial warehouse and a storage room.

Seized items

As a result of the operation, 17 vehicles, 11 recreational vessels, two fishing boats, two jet skis, more than 54,000 euros in cash, four large-displacement engines, around twenty mobile phones, four GPS boxes and geolocation devices, four long weapons, two simulated weapons, three knives, 11,500 cartridges, 74 high-end watches, five computers and computer equipment were seized.

The investigation is still open and the arrest of other people linked to the dismantled criminal organization is not ruled out.

The operation involved officers from the Central Narcotics Brigade – Section 1 Group XII AEAT-Customs Surveillance and the Combined Unit of the SVA in Huelva of the Tax Agency, as well as agents from the Organized Crime Team belonging to the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard of Huelva and CGPJ-UDYCO Central.

The detainees and the proceedings have been handed over to the Court of First Instance and Instruction No. 2 of Ayamonte (Huelva).