Spanish authorities boarded the tug Felsted after it crossed the Strait of Gibraltar from the western Moroccan coast on 14 April 2021 and found 200 bales of hashish weighing 7,130 kilograms.[1][2][3] The 24-metre vessel, flagged in Vanuatu and refitted with a spacious hold, was escorted to the port of Algeciras, where officers unloaded the bales.[1][2][4]

Three Ukrainian crew members were arrested during the boarding, carried out covertly from two auxiliary boats of the Civil Guard vessel Río Miño after a two-day operation at sea in rough weather.[1][2][3] The investigation had run since March 2020 with the MAOC-N maritime centre and French, Dutch, Portuguese and British authorities, targeting a high-level organisation that had set up its logistics base in Huelva.[1][2]

An organisation under watch

Police had tracked the Felsted since it was already under investigation in the Netherlands and France, and had followed its movements from the Canary Islands before it crossed the Strait.[1][3] The Tax Agency called the seizure one of the largest of the year, curbing the activities of Strait-based criminal organisations.[1]