Spain’s Tax Agency, Civil Guard and National Police seized the Mongolian-flagged fishing vessel Odyssey 227 in international waters about 30 nautical miles east of Fuerteventura in the early hours of 1 June 2021.[1][2] The Customs Surveillance patrol boat Sacre carried out the boarding without resistance after clearance from the Mongolian consulate, though the Sacre’s captain fell overboard in rough seas and was rescued by colleagues.[1]
The four crew, an Italian captain with Senegalese officers and sailors, were arrested, and the vessel with the drugs in her hold was escorted to the port of Las Palmas.[1][2] The final count was 22,100 kg of hashish; the agency’s first announcement on the day had put the haul at about 15 tonnes.[2][1]
The seizure came from a joint investigation coordinated through CITCO with the Maritime Investigation Offices in Galicia and the Canary Islands, which had tracked the trawler’s suspicious movements near the islands.[1] MAOC (N) said the consignment appeared to have been loaded off Morocco’s Atlantic coast for delivery to West Africa, a newer Atlantic route that organised crime groups treat as safer than the eastern Mediterranean run.[2]
