Spanish Customs Surveillance (Vigilancia Aduanera) AS365 N3 helicopter.
Hlcopters photo by Hugo Ramos.
October 4, 2024. — Aduanas (Spanish Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency), within the framework of the «Pascal-Lino 2024» operation carried out jointly with Douane (French Customs), has intercepted 130 nautical miles from Lanzarote (Canary Islands) the cargo ship Ras, with 70 meters long and flying the flag of Tanzania, which according to initial estimates was transporting 4 tons of cocaine. As a result of the intervention, all ten vessel crewmembers have been arrested.
The cargo ship was monitored by the crew of the Customs Surveillance Special Operations Vessel «Petrel» together with the French customs patrol boat «DPF-3» during Operation «Pascal-Lino 2024», a bilateral project in which both customs authorities deploy naval and aerial means to intensify surveillance and control in different maritime scenarios each year, and which on this occasion was taking place in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.
During the operation, the ten crewmembers of the cargo ship were arrested: seven of them Turkish nationals, including its captain, two Azerbaijani nationals and one Dutch citizen.
The cargo ship was being monitored by the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre — Narcotics (MAOC-N) based in Lisbon and, at a national level, the operation has been coordinated with the Policía Nacional (National Police) and Guardia Civil (Civil Guard) through the Coordination Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO).
A round trip across the Mediterranean and the Atlantic
On this occasion, investigators were struck by the fact that the cargo ship was undertaking an uneconomical voyage, having set sail from Turkey, sailed across the Mediterranean to the Atlantic front, then to Sierra Leone and Guinea Bissau without having loaded or unloaded any merchandise and, after carrying out erratic manoeuvres, heading for the Iberian Peninsula.
The presence of the naval and air resources of the Customs Surveillance Service (Vigilancia Aduanera) and the French Customs (Douane) in the area made it possible to carry out the operational action on this ship in an agile manner and prevent the drugs from being transferred to other smaller vessels and reaching the Spanish coasts.
The narcotic substance was found in a compartment between the cargo ship’s holds with very difficult access and outside the main corridors of the ship, which at first made it difficult to locate.
The operation culminates today with the arrival of the «Petrel» and the seized cargo ship at the port of Arrecife, in Lanzarote, for the unloading of the drugs and the placing of the detainees at the disposal of the Spanish Customs Surveillance, Policía Nacional and Guardia Civil.
Operations «Pascal-Lino» and «Pascal-Iborra»
These operations are carried out within the framework of the aero-naval operational cooperation between the customs of Spain and France since 2017, with a wide deployment of resources in areas of maritime interest to reinforce actions aimed at combating customs fraud by sea in the Mediterranean Sea, Cantabrian Sea and North Atlantic. Resources are deployed for two operational campaigns each year called «Pascal-Lino» and «Pascal-Iborra» in homage to a Douane official and two officials of the Vigilancia Aduanera who have already passed away.
The ‘Pascal-Lino-Iborra’ project is thus a major platform for cooperation between both customs offices, focused on the maritime field, during which not only are crew members exchanged on board the various ocean patrol vessels and observation and surveillance aircraft, but protocols, knowledge and good practices are also exchanged to help both customs offices improve their response to drug trafficking by sea.
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