Spain’s Tax Agency intercepted the Dutch-flagged sailing yacht Mirca some 50 nautical miles south-east of Cabo de Gata, Almería, in the early hours of 12 September 2015 and found an estimated 10,000 kilos of hashish aboard.[1] The drugs filled every possible space inside the vessel, including the gaps beneath the beds and the floors of the cabins, and the yacht was at high risk of sinking under the load.[1]
The operation, codenamed Fokke, had begun the previous day when a Tax Agency aircraft over the Alboran Sea spotted two rigid-hulled inflatable boats coming from Morocco unloading packages onto the yacht, which then set sail for the eastern Mediterranean.[1] The patrol vessel Décimo Aniversario caught up with the yacht at 03:25 on 12 September and boarded it with support from the helicopter Argos-I.[1]
The three crew members, two men and a woman, all Dutch nationals, were arrested and faced charges of smuggling and offences against public health.[1][2] Because the boarding took place in international waters, the National High Court’s prosecutor lodged the case with its Investigating Court No. 5, and the yacht was registered in the presence of the Almería duty court clerk after authorisation from the flag state.[1]
The Tax Agency said the seizure was the fourteenth large hashish seizure on its so-called Eastern Mediterranean route since May 2013, bringing that route’s running total to more than 125 tonnes.[1]
