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15 have been detained in the Murcia Region and Alicante Province, along with 7 high-speed narco boats, closing down a narco-traffic network which used high-speed power boats to bring drugs into Spain.

 

The macro-operation began last February, when the Alicante Civil Guard Maritime Service found an unmanned high-speed boat sailing adrift, having apparently been abandoned whilst in international waters, all indicators being that it belonged to a well-known drug trafficker based in the area.

 

At the same time the drugs division of the Alicante Civil Guard and that of Murcia found a shipment of more than 3 tons of hashish, hidden in a pleasure boat, which was about to sink, 40 miles from the coast, still with crew on board. A complicated rescue operation was launched to rescue the crew and prevent its cargo from sinking which involved a fishing boat from the Torrevieja fleet and rescue services.

 

Following this partial sinking further five further bales of hashish were washed up along the coasts of Murcia and Alicante, apparently thrown overboard by the crew when attempting to keep the boat afloat ad hide the evidence.

 

In total, 84 bales were found, accounting for 3,357 kilos of hashish with a market value of more than 5 and a half million euros.

 

Investigations into the source of the marijuana and its link to the two boats involved soon ascertained that both were linked to a major criminal group with the logistical and financial power to employ naval mechanics who manufactured, stored and prepared narco-boats to bring hashish into the Spanish coastline from Africa.

 

In May investigators got lucky when Guardia Civíl in Santa Pola arrested four group members caught with a high-speed boat hidden inside a truck semi-trailer, ready to be launched.

 

The operation culminated, at the end of June, with the arrest of 11 other people, in the provinces of Alicante and Murcia, and two searches carried out in the Santa Pola industrial estate, where the organization had set up its logistics base.

 

In one of the industrial units three high-speed boats were seized, one of them ready to be transported and loaded inside a trailer. The narcoboat was loaded with 119 bottles full of fuel, two high-powered outboard engines, as well as enough food for the crew to survive offshore for several days.

 

In total, 15 people of Moroccan, Ecuadorian and Spanish nationalities have been arrested in the towns of Santa Pola, Sant Vicent del Raspeig, El Campello (in Alicante) and La Manga and Murcia (Murcia) for alleged drug trafficking, membership of a criminal organization and offences against smuggling legislation. Seven narco-boats, 3,357 kilos of hashish, two articulated trucks and five passenger cars have been seized.