The Central Court of Instruction number three, through Judge María Tardón, took a statement by videoconference from 26 of the 48 detainees in the framework of Operation Black Shadow, the macro-police operation that dismantled one of the largest networks of cocaine traffickers from Colombia and Brazil, which operated with narco-boats in Lanzarote, Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
This operation is coordinated by the Central Court of Instruction number 3 and the Special Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court. As the National Court informed La Voz, of those questioned, 16 testified from Arrecife; two from Puerto del Rosario; and eight from Gran Canaria. The judge agreed to the imprisonment of 17 of the 26 detainees.
In the framework of this police operation, at least 3,800 kilos of cocaine were seized. As reported by the National Police, a total of twenty people were arrested in Lanzarote, while the rest were in Gran Canaria and Fuerteventura.
Last Tuesday, June 3, a total of 29 searches were carried out in the Canary Islands, within the framework of a large police operation. Lanzarote was the island where more searches were carried out, with a total of 14, followed by Gran Canaria, with 13, and Fuerteventura, with two.
In the police searches, approximately 100,000 euros, drugs destined for medium-scale trafficking, three short firearms, numerous documents and tools destined for maritime traffic such as satellite phones and geolocation devices were seized.
69 vehicles seized and six properties
According to the information provided by the Police, 69 vehicles -19 of them boats and jet skis-, six properties and numerous bank accounts from up to nine different entities have been seized and blocked.
This organization specialized in the introduction of large quantities of cocaine in Spain through high-speed boats, known as the go fast system.
According to the National Police in a press release, they had eleven speedboats, which departed from strategic points in the Atlantic, transferring the drug from mother ships on the high seas to the Canary coasts through a sophisticated maritime and logistical infrastructure
They used encrypted communications, satellite terminals and a coded language to avoid being detected and hinder any police investigation.
In addition, the National Police was able to verify how they used the Telamón ship, an abandoned wreck, as a refueling platform for boats or speedboats, and were even able to locate numerous empty jerry cans and flasks that they later transferred to said boat.
This operation was carried out jointly by the National Crime Agency (NCA), the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Europol, the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre for Narcotics (MAOC-N) and authorities from France, Poland, Portugal, Colombia and Cape Verde. In the framework of this operation, this criminal network was dismantled with the arrest of 48 people as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization and drug trafficking.
The investigations have made it possible to detect that the criminal organization had coordinators in the Canary Islands in charge of receiving and distributing narcotics from Colombia and Brazil.
Agents of the National Police, with the collaboration of EUROPOL and other police authorities from different countries, have carried out this operation with financing instruments from the European Union. This strategy focuses on four key points: establishing a security environment prepared for the future, combating emerging threats, protecting European citizens from terrorism and organized crime, and forging a robust European security ecosystem.
