The National Police has carried out an investigation that culminated last week when GEO agents and Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency seized more than half a ton of cocaine in a raid on a sailboat that took place in the Atlantic. The ship, located in the Port of Badalona, set course for Brazil, where its crew members had several meetings with drug suppliers and would return loaded with it to our country. At the moment they proceeded to board it, one of the crew members set fire to the interior of the ship, which is why they jumped into the high seas and had to be rescued by the agents. In total, six members of the organization have been arrested in a joint operation with the Carabinieri Corps of Bologna (Italy) and in collaboration with the Tax Agency.
Transatlantic transport of drugs to our country
The investigations began as a result of an International Rogatory Commission issued by the Italian authorities, as a result of the investigations that were being carried out in this country regarding a criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking at sea level. Thanks to it, the ship could be located in Spain in the Port of Badalona and thanks to the cooperation of the police of both countries, the agents verified that a transatlantic transport of cocaine was going to take place from South America to our country. In this way, the sailboat set sail from the Barcelona town towards Brazil, making a stop in Lanzarote last November. In this country, the different crew members made contact with different drug suppliers, loading the boat with cocaine and returning to Spain last February.
The crew members, when discovered, tried to sink the ship
When the investigators had located the ship in the waters of the Atlantic, GEO agents proceeded to board it from the special operations ship "Petrel" of the Tax Agency, at the beginning of March. At the moment that the two crew members were surprised by the agents, they tried to sink the ship by setting fire to its interior, which caused a huge fire that led them to jump overboard. The agents jumped to their rescue and began extinction work in which they were injured with various burns.
In the inspection of the boat, 506 packages of cocaine have been found in the cabins. In addition, a search has been carried out at the home of one of the arrested crew memberss. In total, six people have been arrested, the two crew members of the sailboat, another individual in a hotel in Barcelona who accompanied them to Brazil and three other members of the organization who were in Italy. A sailboat, four mobile phones, a portable radio transmitter, two laptops, cash, a high-end vehicle and numerous documentation have been seized.
The operation has been carried out by the Central Brigade of Narcotics, the Provincial Brigade of Judicial Police of the Superior Headquarters of Catalonia, the UDYCO of the Superior Headquarters of Las Palmas, the GEO, the Operational Group of Technical Interventions, in conjunction with the Carabinieri Corps of Bologna (Italy), with the collaboration of Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency.
