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Unidentified fishing boat loaded with 560 kilos of cocaine intervened in waters south of the Canary Islands

Operation of the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police

  • The eight crew members of the boat, which was sailing without a flag or visible identification signs to Europe, were arrested.
  • The boarding, carried out by the Customs Surveillance Special Operations Vessel 'Petrel' of the Tax Agency, was preceded by a complex search for the target in a wide area of the Atlantic.

June 7, 2022.- Officials from the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, within the framework of a joint operation with the National Police and the Civil Guard, have intercepted in the early hours of June 3 in waters south of the Canary Islands a fishing boat without a flag or visible identification signs that was transporting 560 kilos of cocaine bound for Europe. In the same action, the eight crew members of the boat, of Brazilian nationality, were arrested.

The operation, called 'Blanco Brasil', led to the boarding of the ship, a 19-meter-long fishing boat converted for the illicit transport of narcotics, about 270 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands for its subsequent transfer and arrival at the port of Las Palmas. in the morning today.

The actions, directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court, begin, within the framework of international cooperation, with the exchange of information between the investigative agencies, the MAOC-N (Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center) and the CITCO (Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime), which determined the existence of a vessel suspected of illicit drug trafficking from South America.

The search for the goal

From that moment on, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, in coordination with the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police and the UTPJ of the Civil Guard, establishes the appropriate deployment for the location, identification and, where appropriate, the boarding of the objective, which is finally carried out by the Special Operations Vessel 'Petrel' of the Tax Agency.

The task of searching for the target was highly complex in nautical terms, given the limited information available on the ship's geolocation. At the same time, the navigation conditions up to the time of the intervention had been complex due to adverse weather conditions when passing through the Madeira archipelago due to the Azores storm.

Finally, once the fishing vessel was detected thanks to the professionalism of the 'Petrel' crew, a quick and clear boarding action was carried out under technical safety conditions despite the state of the sea.

During the course of the intervention, a significant amount of bales commonly used for cocaine trafficking was found. At that time, the eight crew members of the fishing boat without identification were arrested, as well as the vessel was secured.

Once the detainees were boarded on the 'Petrel', the towing of the fishing boat began and its transfer to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. 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 is one of those carried out in the framework of the fight against drug trafficking in the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by fishing boats that, coming from South America, transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic. for its subsequent introduction to the European continent.

Filming of operation (to download the video you must enter the following web address):

 https://we.tl/t-Rj3zmAACn8