Officials from the Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) of the Tax Agency, in a joint investigation with the Civil Guard and National Police, intercepted a sailboat loaded with cocaine about 50 miles off the coast of the Canary Islands, managing to recover 25 kilos of this drug.
This operation is part of the current plan to intensify the investigation, surveillance, and control of maritime spaces near the Canary Islands, which involves the participation of the patrol vessels ‘Petrel I’ and ‘Sacre’ of the Tax Agency.
In the course of a surveillance operation aimed at intensifying the location of targets susceptible to anomalous behavior in the area, the investigators received information about a boat near the island of Tenerife carrying a significant amount of narcotics, as reported by the Tax Agency in a press release.
They also indicated that a transfer to another vessel, a rigid inflatable boat, was likely to take place, which would be responsible for smuggling the drugs into Spanish coasts.
This intelligence information was obtained thanks to international cooperation from the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States, channeled through the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N) in the Atlantic and coordinated nationally by the Intelligence Centre for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), involving the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, National Police, and Civil Guard.
Acting on the information obtained, a maritime operation was carried out, which, they emphasize, was «highly risky» for the Customs patrol officers due to the rough sea conditions and a fire intentionally set by the boat’s crew to destroy the cocaine and the sailboat.
However, the quick action of the Customs Surveillance Service agents initially extinguished the fire and completed the boarding of the boat, recovering part of the cargo – 25 kilos of cocaine – before the fire reignited, ultimately destroying most of the cocaine shipment and the vessel carrying it, a sloop named ‘Lona’.
The two crew members of the sailboat, of French and Dutch nationalities, have been arrested, with one of them seriously injured in the fire, requiring evacuation by helicopter by Maritime Rescue.
The two Customs Surveillance Service boats, along with the detainees and the recovered drugs, arrived in Santa Cruz de Tenerife on Friday, July 4.
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