Tax Agency boards sailing yacht with 7,980 kg of hashish off Cartagena
Spain's Tax Agency boarded the Spanish-flagged sailing yacht Diosa Astarte 93 miles south-east of Cartagena on 20 March 2016 and seized 320 bales of hashish resin weighing 7,980 kg. Four crew members were arrested and brought before the National High Court; the agency valued the drugs at over 12.5 million euros.
🇪🇸 Mediterranean Sea, 93 miles south-east of Cartagena, Murcia · Spain
Spain’s Tax Agency intercepted the sailing yacht Diosa Astarte 93 miles south-east of Cartagena at 1.30 p.m. on 20 March 2016.[1]The over-15-metre Spanish-flagged sloop was carrying 320 bales of hashish resin, which on weighing totalled 7,980 kilos.[1]The agency’s 2016 annual report lists the Diosa Astarte sloop among its key Customs Surveillance activities in international waters.[2]
Aerial detection, four arrests
The operation, codenamed Sea, began when the agency’s aerial surveillance assets spotted the yacht sailing without a defined course in an area commonly used for loading narcotics.[1]The patrol vessel Colimbo IV from the Cartagena maritime base boarded it, found the bales and canisters of diesel fuel, arrested the four crew members and towed the yacht to Cartagena.[1]The detainees, two Spanish nationals, one Bolivian and one Moroccan, were brought with the yacht and the drugs before Central Investigating Court No. 2 of the National High Court.[1]The agency estimated the black-market value of the seizure at more than 12.5 million euros.[1]
Case data
Every number and detail the sources state, with the sources that state it.
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