Assahafa.com
The Spanish Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service and the Spanish Civil Guard intercepted, on Wednesday, with Morocco’s assistance, a tugboat bearing the name “Sky White,” carrying some 3,000 kilograms of cocaine, divided into 80 packages of various sizes.
The operation was subject to international cooperation of police services from Morocco, France, the U.S., the U.K. and Portugal, as well as the Intelligence Center for Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) and the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), the Spanish Customs Surveillance Service (DAVA) said in a statement.
The vessel has been, since the summer of 2024, suspected of being used for large-scale international drug trafficking and, thanks to international cooperation, was finally intercepted, DAVA recalled, noting that the five crew members aboard the Cameroonian-flagged vessel were arrested.
The operation was carried out as part of an investigation by the National Directorate of the Intelligence and Customs Investigations (DNRED), in collaboration with the Moroccan authorities, into the criminal group operating with this vessel.
This case was linked to an investigation carried out in Spain by the Spanish Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service and the Civil Guard, who suspected the “Sky White” of being a supplying vessel tasked with delivering narcotics to smaller ships in areas close to the Canary Islands or the Iberian Peninsula.
The investigation was supported by law enforcement agencies in the United Kingdom (NCA), the United States (DEA), and Portugal (Judicial Police), coordinated by CITCO and the Maritime Analysis and Operation Centre.
With the support of the Spanish armed forces, a boarding device was set up on the ship in international waters to the West of the Canary Islands, the statement said, adding that the operation was carried out from a marine ship by members of the Civil Guard’s special intervention unit.
On board the vessel, a 22-meter-long tugboat, approximately 3,000 kilograms of cocaine were discovered, concealed within its structure. The vessel was in a deplorable condition for navigation, with serious safety deficiencies that posed a serious risk to the crew, consisting of four people from Bangladesh and one person from Venezuela, who were arrested as suspected perpetrators of a drug trafficking offense.
The operation wrapped up with the arrival of the navy ship in Tenerife to unload the drugs and place the arrested individuals in provisional detention.
The success of this type of operation is the result of collaboration between agencies specializing in criminal intelligence cooperation at the national, European, and international levels, such as CITCO and MAOC-N, and the various Spanish and French police and customs forces, as well as the unfailing support of the Moroccan authorities, the statement concluded.
Source: map
