Spanish Forces Capture Dilapidated Tug Smuggling Three Tons of Cocaine
The Spanish authorities are reporting two major busts that they believe will interrupt the cocaine trade into Spain, the Atlantic islands, and Europe as a whole after seizing more than three tons of cocaine and 20 people. It began with the capture of a suspect tug/trawler at sea off the Canary Islands and a second raid in the Balearic Islands that also provided important details on the smuggling operations from South America.
French customs and Moroccan authorities initially identified the tug/trawler named Sky White in 2024. They suspected the vessel, which is registered in Cameroon, was being used for a large-scale international drug trafficking operation. They said the vessel was using the port of Dakhla in Morocco to evade authorities. During their investigation, they were able to track the vessel, reporting it made several trips a year across the Atlantic and ferrying significant quantities of cocaine destined for the European continent.
The investigation involved the collaboration of police and other authorities in France, Morocco, the United States, the United Kingdom, and Portugal. Span’s domestic intelligence agency (CITCO) and the international Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC-N) were coordinating the effort.
Spanish authorities believe the Sky White was working as a “mother ship” responsible for delivering narcotics to other, smaller vessels in the areas near the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula.
With the support of the Spanish Armed Forces, a boarding operation targeted the Sky White while the vessel was in international waters west of the Canary Islands. They used a Spanish naval vessel and members of the Guardia Civil’s Special Intervention Unit.
They arrested five individuals who were crewing the vessel, four from Bangladesh and one from Venezuela, and are charging them as drug smugglers. Aboard the vessel that found three tons of cocaine hidden in the structure of the vessel.
“The vessel was in a deplorable state for navigation, with serious safety deficiencies that posed a serious risk to the crew,” reports Guardia Civil. Records show it is a 22-meter (72-foot) vessel built in 1980. It is 251 gross tons. Equasis records that the vessel was sold in 2023 to “undisclosed interests.”
Guardia Civil reports it was part of the so-called “Atlantic Route” for cocaine from South America and the Caribbean. They said the smugglers are using sailboats, fishing vessels, and merchant vessels, and then transship the narcotics for distribution into Europe.
Today, August 14, Guardia Civil reported a second raid, this time in the Balearic Islands, where 15 people were arrested and 686 kg of cocaine and several tons of hashish were seized. They also seized more than €1.4 million in cash and several weapons. They said it was one of the largest cocaine seizures in the Balearic Islands.
The gang was drug trafficking and money laundering. They report the drugs were being introduced through Ibizan waters for distribution into the islands and the Spanish mainland, as well as across Europe.