Spain’s Tax Agency Customs Surveillance and the National Police, working with the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency and the Italian authorities plus CITCO and MAOC-N, boarded a sailing yacht in international waters of the Atlantic 130 miles off Huelva and seized around 6,000 kilograms of hashish.[1][2] The three crew members were arrested, including the skipper, an experienced captain who had previously been arrested in similar circumstances aboard another drug-smuggling sailing vessel.[1] Officers also seized a drone, security cameras and a radio-frequency detector the crew used to watch for police.[1][2]
A floating logistics base
The yacht, named BIBI and believed to fly the Maltese flag, had sailed to Italy in February 2022 and moved to Spain in March, settling off the Levantine coast as a logistics hub while trafficking preparations were finalised.[1] After leaving Spain she loaded the drugs off the Moroccan coast and was heading back to smuggle them into Europe through the south of the peninsula when she was intercepted.[1] The investigation began in early 2021 after reports that one of Spain’s most active criminal groups was preparing to buy a sailing boat for drug trafficking.[1] The agency called the seizure a major blow to eastern criminal organisations that lead drug trafficking by sea.[1][2]
