Spain’s Customs Surveillance service seized 3,200 kilograms of hashish at the port of Los Urrutias on the Mar Menor on 16 November 2009.[1] The operation began that day when officers were told a pleasure boat might have smuggled a consignment of drugs into the lagoon, and they watched several people loading parcels from the boat onto a lorry.[1] Officers intercepted the lorry carrying the drugs, an off-road vehicle escorting it, and the nine-metre cabin motorboat used to bring the load in.[1]

Three people involved in loading the drugs were arrested, along with a fourth person linked to the case.[1] The hashish was packed in 100 burlap bales weighing 3,200 kilograms, which the agency said was worth more than four million euros on the black market.[1] The drugs, the arrested people and the impounded vehicles were handed over to the duty investigating magistrate’s court in Cartagena.[1] The agency said investigations were continuing and that further arrests could not be ruled out.[1]