This is how a boat with 500 kilos of cocaine was seized in waters near the Canary Islands

 The National Police, the Civil Guard and the Tax Agency have arrested, in a joint operation, the four crew members of a semi-rigid boat that was transporting more than 500 kilograms of cocaine in waters near the Canary Islands.

The operation took place on Friday, January 5, when the Customs Surveillance agents on board the vessel "Cóndor" began a routine patrol shortly after midnight in the southwest of the archipelago to prevent smuggling and drug trafficking, the General Directorate of the Police has reported.

Hours later, around half past two in the afternoon, the patrol boat located a small inflatable boat with an outboard motor near the island of El Hierro that aroused their suspicions, as it was outside the maritime space typical of this type of boat.

The "Cóndor" approached and the driver of the boat made evasive maneuvers, leading to a chase.

Once reached and stopped, the Customs Surveillance agents boarded the boat, in which there were 22 packages at first sight, including burlap sacks and waterproof bags, containing 519 kilos of cocaine, as well as gasoline drums and provisions.

The crew members - a Spaniard, a Colombian and two Moroccans - were arrested and transferred along with the cargo to the patrol boat for safekeeping, given the precarious state of the intercepted boat.

The following day, once they docked in the port of Las Palmas, a joint team of the National Police, Customs Surveillance and the Civil Guard proceeded to unload the seized effects and make the detainees and the cocaine available to the courts.

The operation, which was carried out in collaboration with the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center for Narcotics (MAOC-N), is being investigated by the Central Court number 1 of the National Court.