Spain’s Tax Agency announced on 18 November 2017 that, with the National Police and Portugal’s Judicial Police, it had dismantled a hashish-trafficking network ferrying bales between Spain and Portugal in rigid-hulled inflatable boats with high-powered engines.[1] The boats ran from the west coast of Morocco to western Huelva and the Algarve in a matter of hours, and the Spanish-led network had a clear hierarchy with divided tasks.[1]
The investigation began when a traffickers’ boat was spotted at Vilamoura marina in Portugal in August 2016, after which Spain worked jointly with the Faro Judicial Police.[1] In an earlier phase at Caños de Canela in Ayamonte, officers seized 1,979 kilograms of hashish in 61 bales during unloading, after the cargo was transferred from the vessel under watch to two smaller boats.[1] A later landing on a beach at Sagres, Portugal, led to seven arrests as 2,100 kilograms in bales came off the boat.[1]
In total the operation seized 4,079 kilos of hashish and arrested 19 people, 14 of whom were remanded in custody, including the group’s leader and eleven others taken in the final phase.[1] Officers also seized the rigid-hulled boat with two outboard engines, two pleasure craft, three vehicles, two jet skis, two motorbikes, satellite phones and other communications gear, tracking beacons, accounting papers and 88,625 euros in cash.[1]
