Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

• The two vessels have been boarded by the Special Operations Vessel 'Fulmar' of the Customs Surveillance Service

March 8, 2023 .- The Tax Agency, within the framework of a joint operation with the Civil Guard and the National Police, has intercepted in waters west of the Canary Islands a sailboat, named 'My Love', which was carrying a load of cocaine. Following the boarding by the Special Operations Vessel 'Fulmar' of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, the two crew members, of Spanish nationality, have been arrested.

The crew and the sailboat have been transferred to the port of Tenerife to be brought before the courts. As part of another investigation, a second sailboat was seized, also with narcotics, so that the amount seized on the two sailboats totals more than 1,100 kilos of cocaine.

Within the framework of the surveillance and prevention actions that are carried out regularly, and through the international communication system between the MAOC-N and the CITCO, information is received from the US DEA, with the collaboration of the British NCA, which would indicate that a sailboat called 'My Love' could be located near the position of the ship 'Fulmar'. As a result of the above, the Customs Surveillance Service patrol boat received instructions to go in search of the vessel, which was located and boarded on the afternoon of March 3, some 350 miles from Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

The Belgian-flagged vessel 'My Love' was carrying an undetermined number of bales of the type normally used to transport cocaine. After obtaining authorization from the Belgian authorities, the sailboat was boarded, the cocaine that the vessel was carrying was seized and its two crew members, of Spanish nationality, were arrested. This operation has been directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court and the Central Court of Instruction number 5 of the National Court.

Boarding and towing difficulties

It so happens that the ship 'Fulmar' was involved in another operation as a result of which a first sailboat had previously been seized, which was also carrying cocaine, and which was being towed to the Canary Islands within the framework of a joint investigation by the three police forces, an operation that remains open.

The conditions of both attacks were very complicated, due in the first case to the sea conditions, and in the second, to the handicap of towing the first sailboat involved, which made the maneuvers much more difficult.

Despite this, the rapid action and experience of the SVA agents involved prevented any incidents from occurring and enabled the operation to be successful on one of the rare occasions when a double intervention is carried out in the same naval operation.

The detainees, the vessels, the drugs and the police investigations will be brought before the courts. These operations are two more of those carried out by the forces dedicated to the repression of drug trafficking in the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by fishing vessels, merchant ships and, as in this case, sailboats from South America that intend to introduce the drug into the European continent.