A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• The five crew members on board the Cameroonian-flagged vessel were arrested.

• The operation has had the international collaboration of the police services of Morocco, France, the United States, the United Kingdom, Portugal, and the coordinating bodies CITCO and MAOC-N

August 13, 2025.- The Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance Service and the Civil Guard have intercepted a tugboat named "Sky White," which was carrying approximately 3,000 kilos of cocaine divided into 80 bales of various sizes.

Since the summer of 2024, this vessel has been suspected of being used for large-scale international drug trafficking, but thanks to international cooperation, it has been intercepted. Its crew members have been arrested.

The operation stems from a case that the French Customs Investigation and Intelligence Directorate (DNRED) was pursuing with Moroccan authorities regarding the criminal group operating this vessel, which used the port of Dakhla to evade authorities in European countries. From this port, the 'Sky White' made several trips a year across the Atlantic, returning with significant quantities of cocaine bound for the European continent.

This case was connected to the investigation conducted in Spain by the Tax Agency's Customs Surveillance Service and the Civil Guard, which investigated the "Sky White" as a mother ship responsible for delivering narcotics to other smaller vessels in areas near the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula.

This investigation was supported by law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom (NCA), the United States (DEA), and Portugal (Judicial Police), coordinated through the Center for Intelligence on Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) and the Atlantic Maritime Drug Trafficking Analysis Center (MAOC-N).

With the support of the Spanish Armed Forces, a boarding operation was established on the boat in international waters west of the Canary Islands, carried out from a Navy vessel by members of the Civil Guard's Special Intervention Unit.

The vessel, a 22-meter-long tugboat, contained approximately 3,000 kilos of cocaine hidden inside its structure. The ship was in a deplorable state for navigation, with serious safety deficiencies that posed a grave risk to the crew itself, four individuals from Bangladesh and one from Venezuela, who were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking.

The operation culminated with the arrival of the Navy ship in Tenerife for the unloading of the drugs and the subsequent presentation of the detainees to the court.

Atlantic route

This operation is part of the fight against drug trafficking along the so-called "Atlantic Route" for cocaine, known for its use by sailboats, fishing vessels, merchant vessels, and, as in this case, semi-rigid vessels from South America and the Caribbean, which transship narcotics across the Atlantic for subsequent importation into Europe.

The success of this type of action is the result of collaborative work between organizations specialized in criminal intelligence cooperation at national, European or international level, such as CITCO or MAOC-N, and

the various Spanish and French police and customs forces, in addition to the firm support of the Moroccan authorities.