SANTA CRUZ DE TENERIFE 7 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Officials from the Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) of the Tax Agency, in a joint investigation with the Guardia Civil and the National Police, have intercepted a yacht loaded with cocaine about 50 miles from the Canary Islands, managing to recover 25 kilos of the drug.
This operation is part of the current plan to intensify the investigation, surveillance, and control of maritime spaces in waters near the Canary Islands, involving the ‘Petrel I’ and ‘Sacre’ patrol boats of the Tax Agency.
Thus, during a surveillance operation aimed at intensifying the location of targets susceptible to anomalous behaviour in the area, investigators received information about a vessel close to the island of Tenerife carrying a significant amount of narcotic substance, as reported by the Tax Agency in a press release.
They also indicated that a transfer to another vessel, of a rigid-hull type, was likely, which would be responsible for introducing the drugs onto the Spanish coasts.
This intelligence information was obtained thanks to international cooperation from the National Crime Agency (NCA) of the UK and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of the United States, channelled through the Maritime Analysis Centre for Drugs and Organised Crime (MAOC) and coordinated nationally by the Intelligence Centre against Terrorism and Organised Crime (CITCO), among the Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service, the National Police, and the Guardia Civil.
Based on the information received, a maritime operation was decided upon, which underscored that it was “high-risk” for the Customs patrol officers due to the poor sea conditions and an intentionally provoked fire by the crew of the vessel to destroy the cocaine and the yacht.
However, the rapid action of the Customs Surveillance Service agents initially extinguished the fire and facilitated the boarding of the vessel, as well as the recovery of part of the cargo – 25 kilos of cocaine – before the fire reactivated, ultimately destroying most of the cocaine shipment and the vessel transporting it, a ‘sloop’ named ‘Lona’.
For their part, the two crew members of the yacht, one French and the other Dutch, have been arrested, with one of them being seriously injured in the fire, even requiring airlifting by Maritime Rescue.
The two vessels of the Customs Surveillance Service, along with the arrested individuals and the recovered drugs, arrived on Friday, 4 July, in Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
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