Traffickers use model planes to make Strait of Gibraltar crossing

NORTH AFRICAN traffickers are using model airplanes to fly drugs across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain.

A model plane carrying drugs was discovered by Guardia Civil after it crashed. The aircraft was carrying hashish pellets and apparently fell due to a mechanical failure was located in the Garcia Aldave area, a mountainous area of the North African Spanish enclave of Ceuta, Guardia Civil reported.

The drugs, a kilo of hashish resin with a market value of around €6,000, had been taped in the inside of the plane’s mechanism.

The owners or operators of the model aircraft have not yet been located but police are analyzing fingerprints found on it. Investigators suspect that there is an organized group smuggling drugs into Spain in this way, as it is the second plane to be found in recent weeks.

The first plane, which is believed to have left Morocco heading for Cadiz, was found by officers on duty at the Benzy frontier with Spain after they noticed something floating in the sea 1.7 nautical miles from the shore.

It was carrying 2.2 kilos of hashish and suspected to have been on a trial run.

The small plane’s motor would not have given it more than 15 minutes flight time, but this is more than enough for it to cross the Strait.