Photo by Vigilancia Aduanera (AEAT).
February 15, 2024. — The Customs Surveillance Service (Vigilancia Aduanera) of the Spanish Tax Agency (AEAT), in a joint operation with the Civil Guard and the National Police, has intercepted 500 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands a semi-rigid boat when it was transporting approximately 4,350 kg of cocaine. February 10, 2024.
The operation began as a consequence of international collaboration, through the exchange of information between the MAOC-N (Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center) and the CITCO (Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime), which was investigation by Customs Surveillance, National Police and Civil Guard. The National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the United States have collaborated in the operation.
As a result of this exchange of information, the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of drug trafficking coming from South America and which would be part of an international operation to reach Spanish coasts across the Atlantic was determined.
As a consequence of this, the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency established the appropriate aeronaval device in order to locate this objective.
After the interception and boarding of the drug boat, its cargo was immediately verified, which consisted of 4,350 kilos of cocaine. In addition, its four crew members were arrested – among them a Galician drug trafficker known to the Security Forces and Corps – of Spanish, Romanian, Moroccan and Moldovan nationalities.
This type of go-fast boat, used in the Atlantic, requires regular assistance to be supplied with both water and food and fuel, supplies that are delivered by other sports, fishing or semi-rigid boats of the same type.
The operation is not closed and the possible presence in the area of other vessels that could be involved is being investigated, so new actions are not ruled out.
The action has been directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court. Both the detainees, the boat and the narcotic substance will be placed at the disposal of the corresponding Central Investigative Court.
The operation has been developed within the framework of the fight against drug trafficking in the so-called ‘Atlantic cocaine route’, known for being used by all types of vessels that, coming from South America, transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic. for its subsequent introduction to the European continent.
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