MADRID, 17 Apr. (EUROPE PRESS) –
The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, the National Police and the Civil Guard have intercepted a fishing boat loaded with 2,900 kilos of cocaine in waters south of the Canary Islands and have arrested five of its crew members.
The operation, called ‘Capirote-Piteas-Acerico’ and directed by the National Court’s Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office, was carried out on April 13 some 300 nautical miles south of the islands, although the transfer of the fishing boat, some 20 meters long, it was completed this Saturday with its arrival at the port of Las Palmas.
After receiving information about the possible involvement of the vessel in illicit drug trafficking from South America, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency established an aeronaval device by which the fishing boat was located and boarded by the patrol boat ‘Cóndor’ when he was sailing north, trying to camouflage himself among the usual boats that take that navigation route.
During the boarding, which was complicated by the bad situation of the sea, it was found that the fishing boat was transporting bundles used for cocaine trafficking in one of its fuel tanks, so the five crew members were immediately arrested, four of them Turkish nationality and one of Georgian nationality.
During the transfer to the islands, Salvamento Marítimo was notified due to a possible machine failure of the boat whose engine was in poor condition to the point that a fire on board was feared. For this reason, a technical stop had to be made in the port of Arguineguín before finally heading to Las Palmas.
The five detainees in the framework of this operation, as well as the fishing and drug, will be placed at the disposal of the Central Court of Instruction acting as Guard of the National Court, although the first proceedings have been carried out by the Court of Instruction in functions of Guard of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.
