Drug smugglers scuppered
Over 4,300kg of hashish seized from a yacht
Boat boarded off Calpe
DRUG smugglers were arrested and over 4,300kg of hashish seized as a gang attempted to land the booty from a yacht at an abandoned Costa Blanca marina, reported the National Police.
A combined land, sea and air operation sprang a trap and six smugglers were arrested as a five-month investigation came to a climax at Calpe’s Puerto Blanco last week.
Officers of the National Police, Guardia Civil and Spanish customs were involved in Operation 'Soot' - and the drugs haul was later put on display on the quayside in Alicante city.
The illicit cargo arrived aboard a Spanish-flagged vessel - its cabin stuffed with bales of hashish - and four suspects waiting to land the drugs were arrested on the shore.
The boat attempted to slip away in the darkness but was intercepted by the customs cutter ‘Arao’ and the two crew members on board were taken into custody.
An investigation was launched in March after customs received information about a ‘suspicious’ yacht visiting a number of ports and marinas along the coast, so surveillance teams began to monitor the pleasure boat’s voyages.
It was believed the gang planned to offload the drugs at sea but heavy seas on July 21 meant the smugglers decided to land the haul at Puerto Blanco; the landing party watched as they arrived in a large van.
The authorities scrambled the Argos II helicopter from Almeria and a customs aircraft based at San Javier in Murcia.
The patrol boat Arao was already at sea.
A police spokesman explained it was believed from the behaviour of the crew that they were about to deliver the cargo at a secret rendezvous at sea.
“A pre-determined operation was launched, with a wide deployment of resources in the air and on land so that the movements and contacts made by the yacht were watched,” he said.
“Given the poor state of the sea on the night of Tuesday (July 21) and Wednesday (July 22) there was constant monitoring of the target. And finally, at about 04.00, the Arao surprised the crew of the yacht when they were heading towards the Puerto Blanco marina at Calpe to deliver the drugs to the rest of the gang on shore.”
He added: “The boat tried to get away but its efforts were in vain and the crew of the Arao were able to board the vessel and arrest the crew.”
Later on Wednesday, in the presence of the yacht’s skipper, 143 bales of hashish were unloaded, with a total weight of 4,380kg. The Calpe home of one of those arrested on shore was also raided.
The special customs surveillance team based at Alicante were involved in the operation; and Guardia Civil and National Police officers from the Alicante command also took part, alongside specialist National Police drugs officers from Elche.