The Civil Guard, within the framework of Operation "Pericles", seized last Tuesday, the 30th, 725 kilograms of cocaine. The drug was hidden in a double bottom of the sailboat "Adamas", which was sailing without a flag about 40 miles south of El Hierro and was boarded by an assault team of the Civil Guard.
With the first light of day, an aircraft of the Air Service of the Civil Guard located the sailboat, coming from South America, in the high seas. Subsequently, the vessel was boarded by a tactical assault team of the Special Intervention Unit (UEI) of the Civil Guard, which was embarked on the oceanic vessel Río Segura.
The intervened vessel was manned by C.O.T, 62 years old, and M.A.R, 51 years old, both of Spanish nationality. These two people were arrested after the boarding, and guarded in the dungeons of the aforementioned vessel until their arrival at the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where they have been placed at the disposal of the court. The Judicial Authority has already ordered their imprisonment.
Accident during the towing operation
The sailboat, which initially sailed on its own means with a detachment of the Maritime Service of the Civil Guard, finally had to be towed by the vessel Río Segura to the Naval Base of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. This caused great setbacks and difficulties, due to the strong storm suffered on the 31st in the waters of the Canary archipelago. The Civil Guard has reported that as a result of this, two components of the Maritime Service who, with an auxiliary boat of the vessel, "were carrying out the difficult and dangerous tasks of fixing the towing cable, fell into the water due to a wave".
As a result of the fall, they suffered injuries of various consideration and a SASEMAR helicopter had to transfer them to Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where they were hospitalized. After a first facultative assessment, the possibility of bone fractures was ruled out and both were discharged this Thursday.
Already on December 31, the vessel Río Segura arrived at the Naval Base of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the registration of the sailboat could begin. Inside the vessel, hidden in a double bottom, under a fuel tank, which was reached through the tank itself, a total of 725 packages of cocaine were extracted, reaching an approximate weight of 725 kilograms.
Complex registration
This registration was not easy, due to the hiding place of the drug. The Civil Guard has explained in its statement that it required the use of "various heavy and cutting tools" to access the bottom, in a registration operation that lasted "about ten continuous hours".
The Civil Guard coordinated all the means used in the operation from the Coordination Center for Maritime Surveillance of Coasts and Borders, which is based at the General Directorate of the Civil Guard in Madrid.
In addition, this seizure occurs as a result of an international operation directed by the Central Court of Instruction No. 3 of the National Court, in which police agencies from various countries have participated, with which the Civil Guard constantly maintains police cooperation channels, mainly with the American DEA Agency.
