A SO-CALLED ‘narcolancha’ has been intercepted whereas transporting 200 cans of gasoline alongside the Guadalquivir River.
The semi-rigid boat, recognized for use by drug traffickers, was stopped in Lebrija, Sevilla, after being secretly tracked by the Guardia Civil.
The vessel had first been noticed within the sea off Chipiona in Cadiz, the place it entered the mouth of the Guadalquivir River in Sanlucar de Barrameda – a resort city beloved by each Spanish and international vacationers.
It then travelled down the river with the intention of offering gasoline for different boats transporting medicine, police declare, nonetheless it was intercepted in Lebrija.
The pursuit alongside the Guadalquivir is only one of many in latest months, because the river is more and more changing into a smuggling hub for drug mafias.
Whereas it was beforehand used extra for cannabis coming in from Morocco, it has just lately turn into a hotbed for cocaine traffickers.
It comes after seven tonnes of the powdered drug have been just lately seized alongside the river in Coria del Rio, Sevilla, the most important quantity ever introduced into southern Spain on a semi-rigid boat.
A number of weeks later three tonnes of cocaine arrived in La Pubela del Rio, a sleepy village close to the river mattress, and simply one among many cities that acts as a warehouse to retailer medicine in.
In latest weeks, a number of ‘narcolanchas’ have been filmed using up and down the Guadalquivir river, sparking concern amongst locals.
The brazen narcos have been recorded travelling in broad daylight and even close to to the town of Sevilla, one among Spain’s most visited locations.
Sevilla authorities minister Francisco Toscano mentioned that police strain in different areas has compelled traffickers to maneuver to the river, however insisted their exercise ‘is nothing new’.
Final weekend, seven narcolanchas have been caught by a drone in broad daylight on the peak of La Algaba, additionally very near Sevilla metropolis.
It comes after gun-toting narcos have been secretly filmed by police loading a van full of medication within the neighbouring province of Huelva.
Footage shared by the Guardia Civil reveals a bunch of males shifting bales of cannabis from a ship into the again of the van close to the border with Portugal.
The traffickers could be seen brandishing navy grade weapons, with some donning face masks and balaclavas.
The AUGC police union mentioned on X: “This isn’t a movie. These are photos of the spectacular drug stash in Huelva with assault rifles, in broad daylight in entrance of the Muelle de las Carabelas, Huelva.”
The organisation then took a jab on the nation’s Inside Minister Fernando Marlaska, including: “In the meantime, Minister Marlaska continues to disclaim the intense safety drawback and fails to recognise the danger going through Guardia Civil officers.”
It comes after the force warned this month that they are not well enough equipped to take care of the ‘rising’ scourge of drug trafficking throughout Andalucia.
At the least 12 people have been arrested as a part of the investigation into the video footage.
4 have been most just lately cuffed in Lagos, a city within the Algarve in Portugal, and await extradition to Spain.
Throughout a dramatic armed police chase, a minimum of one of many suspects took refuge in a faculty crammed with college students, however fortunately nobody was injured.
In accordance with Spanish stories, the operation was geared toward dismantling a ‘highly effective’ felony gang primarily based in Punta Umbria, Huelva.
The mafia is accused of transporting medicine from northern Morocco to the coast of Huelva and varied estuaries.
It is only one of a number of new routes being taken by drug traffickers in latest months and years, after police presence was ramped up alongside the shores of the Costa del Sol and the Campo de Gibraltar.
The Guadalquivir river and its estuaries within the province of Cadiz is one other most popular route of late, with a number of skirmishes between police and drug traffickers reported over the previous 12 months.
It additionally emerged final week that youngsters are getting used to smuggle medicine into mainland Spain.
The Policia Nacional mentioned it had detained two minors and an grownup in Algeciras, close to the Gibraltar border, for alleged drug trafficking.
The trio, who had taken a ship from the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta, had strapped bricks of cannabis to their our bodies.
The medicine, weighing over 2kg in complete, have been labelled ‘lemon hash’, with one photograph of a suspect displaying how a number of bricks have been taped to his abdomen and again.
It comes after the Guardia Civil this month claimed they’re nonetheless ‘unarmed’ one 12 months after the killings of two officers and that drug trafficking is rising and ‘taking root in coastal cities.’
The cry got here from Jucil, the affiliation representing the rank-and-file, who it claims has to fight the rising narco scourge with inadequate sources that endangers lives.
Officers David Nuñez and Miguel Angel Gonzalez have been killed on February 9 final 12 months when their smaller Zodiac pace boat was rammed by a narco boat sheltering from a storm within the port of Barbate.
“One 12 months later, and we’re nonetheless unarmed in opposition to the drug traffickers,” mentioned normal secretary Ernesto Vilariño.
“The scenario has not improved within the space, in truth it has gotten worse, and the Guardia Civil nonetheless has inadequate sources to take care of drug trafficking.
“The growing sightings of drug boats and the petrol boats that offer them is a transparent signal that the issue is taking root in coastal cities.”
Whereas the Inside Ministry has claimed the truth that drug seizures have been down in 2024 – nonetheless a staggering 150 tonnes of hash and 44 tonnes of cocaine – is proof that total trafficking is down, Jucil disagrees.
“The Ministry attributes this to a supposed decrease manufacturing in Morocco and the shifting of trafficking routes, however the actuality is that there are fewer seizures as a result of there aren’t sufficient sources to intercept the medicine,” it mentioned.
It factors to the drop in street-level costs for these medicine as proof that the amount of medication coming into Spain with out being detected is on the rise.
Jucil complained that the patrol boats delivered to the Guardia Civil are too few and in poor situation, permitting the narco boats to dominate the Strait of Gibraltar.
In the meantime, their autos are sometimes missing in important security methods for top pace pursuits and plenty of have over 250,000km on the clock.
Jucil states that the authorities are letting them down not simply of their lack of sources but additionally of their failure to open an inquiry into the sequence of occasions that led as much as the deaths of Nuñez and Gonzalez a 12 months in the past.
“At a political and hierarchical degree, it’s as if nothing had occurred,” Vilariño mentioned.
“The state has failed its safety forces, and at the moment we proceed to face drug trafficking with out sufficient means and beneath life-threatening circumstances.
“We can not enable the demise of our colleagues to be forgotten, nor can we enable ourselves to mourn new tragedies in a 12 months,” Vilariño continued.
“Drug trafficking is a significant issue that should be tackled now, and this additionally includes the recomposition of [specialised drug fighting unit] the OCON-Sur.”
“Drug trafficking is destroying households, and that is because of the lack of environment friendly means for the brokers and the shortage of social dedication within the province to stop younger folks from attempting to make a residing with one thing as unsafe as drug trafficking,” added Agustín Domínguez, provincial secretary of Jucil in Cádiz.
