Lorraine Williamson
The Guardia Civil has seized 1,124 kilograms of hashish following an operation off the Marbella coast that led officers from the sea to Fuengirola and Mijas. Three people were arrested after investigators discovered 26 bales of hashish in a van and intercepted a recreational boat allegedly being used to provide logistical support to a high-speed narco boat.
The operation began during the early hours when the Guardia Civil’s Central Operative Services received an alert about a suspected high-speed narco boat approximately 13 nautical miles south of Marbella.
Officers had detected a recreational boat alongside the semi-rigid high-speed vessel at sea. After the two boats separated, they headed towards different points along the Costa del Sol.
Van found with 26 bales of hashish
Guardia Civil officers were deployed to the area where they believed the drugs would be brought ashore. They subsequently located a van containing 26 bales of hashish weighing a total of 1,124 kilograms. Two people were arrested at the scene.
At the same time, other Guardia Civil patrols tracked the recreational vessel believed to have met the high-speed boat offshore. Officers intercepted it at Fuengirola port, where they allegedly found five containers of petrol prepared for refuelling vessels at sea. The boat’s crew member was arrested.
The practice of supplying high-speed drug-smuggling boats with fuel while they remain at sea is known in Spain as petaqueo. It allows the vessels to remain offshore for longer periods without having to enter a port to refuel.
Vehicles and boat seized
The Guardia Civil seized 1,124 kilograms of hashish as well as the recreational boat, the van used to transport the drugs and a car belonging to one of those arrested. The car was allegedly carrying false registration plates.
The three suspects are being investigated for alleged offences against public health and document falsification and have been placed at the disposal of the relevant judicial authorities.
The operation involved officers from the Guardia Civil’s Mijas Main Post, the Fiscal and Borders Patrol in Torremolinos, the Command’s Citizen Security Unit, known as USECIC, and the Mijas Judicial Police team.
The investigation provides another example of the methods increasingly used by drug-trafficking networks operating along southern Spain’s coastline, where support boats, fuel supplies and vehicles on land can form part of the logistics required to move drugs from sea to shore.
The arrests come during a week in which organised crime and drug trafficking have again been under scrutiny on the Costa del Sol. On Wednesday, the Spanish government’s subdelegate in Málaga said investigators believe a shooting in Marbella earlier this week was linked to problems between rival foreign drug-trafficking gangs.
Authorities have not indicated that the two cases are connected.