Two Britons held as 4 tonnes of cannabis resin seized off Gibraltar
Spanish customs escorted a storm-hit sailing boat into Cádiz on 10 December 2022 and recovered 130 bales of cannabis resin, about four tonnes. Tipped off by Britain's NCA via the Lisbon maritime centre, officers detained a 49-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman.
Britain’s National Crime Agency tipped off Spain about a sailing boat suspected of running drugs from Morocco, working with the MAOC-N maritime centre in Lisbon; Spanish customs intercepted the vessel and escorted it into Cádiz.[1][2]The boat had got into trouble in a storm in the Strait of Gibraltar on 10 December 2022, and the search found 130 bales of cannabis resin, about four tonnes.[1][2]
Officers detained a 49-year-old man and a 53-year-old woman, both British; they remained in custody in Spain while investigations continued, with details made public by Spanish police only weeks later.[1][2]The NCA’s regional manager said the agency had suspected the vessel of shipping drugs across the Atlantic and pledged to keep disrupting organised trafficking networks with its partners.[1][2]
Case data
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Guardia Civil officers in Segovia dismantled a clandestine marijuana plantation hidden in a greenhouse near El Espinar after neighbours reported a strong smell of cannabis. Two local residents were placed under investigation for alleged drug-trafficking cultivation, and officers seized 8.05 kg of plant material.
The Guardia Civil investigated a man in Aguilar de la Frontera, Córdoba, after a neighbour reported being threatened with a short firearm; he handed over an air pistol. Officers then found eight cannabis plants, about 1.60 metres tall, grown inside his home, with buds weighing 920 grams, and put the file before a court.
Guardia Civil officers intercepted a parcel holding 15.9 kilos of hashish resin at a transport company near Asturias airport, then arrested the 37-year-old Seville man who flew in to collect it in a simulated delivery. A judge sent him to prison on 6 November 2026.
Mossos d'Esquadra found a fully equipped forest camp in Figuerola del Camp holding more than 1,000 kilos of marijuana buds ready for sale. No arrests were reported and the investigation to identify those behind the site remains open.
