Four held after smuggling speedboat grounds in Ceuta
Spain's Civil Guard Maritime Service detained four people after their narcolancha ran aground on a Ceuta beach during a chase on 28 July 2019. A Moroccan outlet described them as hashish smugglers, while El Faro de Ceuta said no drugs were aboard and that they were accused of disobedience.
The Civil Guard’s Maritime Service detained four people after a chase that ended
with their semirigid narcolancha, powered by three engines, aground on a Ceuta
beach on the morning of Sunday 28 July 2019.[1]
Mowatine reported that Spanish media said the four men, aged 42, 38, 33 and 24,
were suspected of smuggling hashish from Morocco to Spain aboard a Phantom-type
fast boat.[2]The four fled when they saw the patrol, ran their boat aground
and were arrested on land by coast patrols.[1]
El Faro de Ceuta said no drugs were aboard the boat, which was being
investigated, and that the men were for now accused of disobedience.[1]Mowatine reported that Spain’s judicial police placed the suspects under police
custody to investigate them and establish where the boat came from.[2]
La Vanguardia, reporting the same four arrests, said they were accused of
contraband, disobedience and resisting officers.[3]La Vanguardia described
narcolanchas as semirigid boats used to transport hashish from Morocco to
mainland Spain.[3]
Photos and video
The seized narcolancha on a Ceuta beach after the chase. Photo: Cristian Marfil / El Faro de CeutaPhoto details
Mowatine described all four detainees as Moroccan, while El Faro reported two as Ceuta residents and one as from La Linea de la Concepcion, with only one identified as Moroccan.
Mowatine describes the interception as taking place on the Sunday evening, while the Spanish accounts place the chase in the morning of 28 July.
El Faro names the landing beach as Playa de la Potabilizadora, La Vanguardia as Playa del Desnarigado; El Faro's own headline uses the second name.
No cannabis was found aboard, so no quantity, weight or value can be recorded; Mowatine's description of the men as hashish smugglers is not supported by the Spanish accounts.
The accounts differ on the allegations: La Vanguardia lists contraband, disobedience and resistance, while El Faro says disobedience was the accusation at the time.
No court outcome was reported; El Faro said the four would appear before the duty investigating judge in the following days.
La Vanguardia's account also covers a second interception in the same announcement, a 32-year-old Moroccan detained at 4am in another boat off Punta Almina, which is not counted among these four arrests.
Mowatine's featured image carries no caption or credit identifying this interception, so it was not used; the single photo listed is El Faro's.
The Guardia Civil, working with San Pedro del Pinatar's local police, arrested six people and shut a retail drug sales point in Lo Pagán, a coastal district of San Pedro del Pinatar in Murcia. A search of the house near Villananitos beach found quantities of hashish alongside cocaine, heroin and MDA, and officers also seized cash, scales and bladed weapons.
Guardia Civil officers arrested 12 people at the Port of Ceuta on 10 November 2026 after sniffer dogs detected they had ingested hashish pellets before attempting to board a ferry to Algeciras. All 12 suspects were taken to the Hospital Universitario de Ceuta, where X-ray scans confirmed the presence of ingested drugs in their bodies.
National Police detained two people in Linares, Jaen, dismantling two marijuana plantations and seizing 575 plants. The action was Operation Jaroco, with two home searches led by the local drugs group.
Spain's National Police detained two men in Astorga after a road check and a court-authorised house search, and located a flat used as a drug storehouse. Officers seized about 350 grams of drugs in all, including hashish and marijuana alongside cocaine.
