Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with the Civil Guard and Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, have intercepted in the early hours of June 3 in waters south of the Canary Islands a fishing boat without a flag or visible identification signs that was transporting 560 kilos of cocaine destined for Europe.
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In the same action, which is part of the Mindanao operation, the eight crew members of the boat, of Brazilian nationality, have been arrested.
The operation, called 'Blanco Brasil', led to the boarding of the ship, a 19-meter-long fishing vessel converted for the illicit transport of narcotics, some 270 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands for its subsequent transfer and arrival at the port of Las Palmas in the morning today.
The actions, directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National High Court, start, within the framework of international cooperation, with the exchange of information between the investigative agencies, the MAOC-N (Analysis and Operations Center of the Atlantic) and the CITCO (Center for Intelligence Against Terrorism and Organized Crime), which determined the existence of a vessel suspected of illicit drug trafficking from South America.
From that moment on, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, in coordination with the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police and the UTPJ of the Civil Guard, establishes the appropriate deployment for the location, identification and, where appropriate, the boarding of the target, which is finally carried out by the Special Operations Vessel 'Petrel' of the Tax Agency.
The search for the target was highly complex in nautical terms, given the scant information on the ship's geolocation. In turn, the navigation conditions up to the time of the intervention had been complex due to adverse weather conditions passing through the Madeira archipelago due to the Azores storm.
Finally, once the fishing vessel was detected thanks to the professionalism of the 'Petrel' crew, a quick and clear boarding action was carried out in technical safety conditions despite the state of the sea.
During the course of the intervention, a significant number of bundles of those commonly used for cocaine trafficking were found. At that time, the eight unidentified fishing crew members were arrested, as well as the vessel was secured.
Once the detainees were embarked on the 'Petrel', the fishing boat was towed and transferred to the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. Both the detainees, as well as the boat, the drug and the police proceedings will be placed at the disposal of the Central Court of Instruction acting as a Guard of the National Court.
This operation is one more of those carried out in the framework of the fight against drug trafficking in the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine, known for being used by fishing boats that, coming from South America, transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for its later introduction in the European continent. ■
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