19 People Arrested as Guardia Civil Mastermind Seizure of Drugs Yacht off West African Coast

The Yacht tracked on Naval Radar Credit: Guardia Civil

AN international gang with many bases in Spain has been broken up with more than 5,000 kilos of hashish seized from a yacht off the coast of Senegal.

The whole project started in Mallorca when officers of the Guardia Civil spotted a yacht in the harbour at Palma which they believed may have been involved in the ongoing smuggling of the drug.

As more information became available, officers recognised that this was a serious and large group involved in the smuggling which ran from Africa to Spain and they contacted Frontex (the European Border and Coast Guard Agency), the Italian Police, the Senegalese Police and Navy.

It transpired that not only were nationals from Italy, Libya, Morocco, Guinea Bissau, Senegal and Tunisia involved but many came from different provinces in Spain.

A coordinated action against all of those suspected of being part of the drug smuggling group took place in Barcelona, Girona and Pontevedra which ended up with 16 arrests.

In addition, the Senegalese Navy intercepted the yacht which was carrying 5,140 kilos of hashish and arrested the crew consisting of two Colombians and a Spaniard.

Written by

John Smith

Married to Ophelia in Gibraltar in 1978, John has spent much of his life travelling on security print and minting business and visited every continent except Antarctica. Having retired several years ago, the couple moved to their house in Estepona and John became a regular news writer for the EWN Media Group taking particular interest in Finance, Gibraltar and Costa del Sol Social Scene. Currently he is acting as Editorial Consultant for the paper helping to shape its future development. Share your story with us by emailing newsdesk@euroweeklynews.com, by calling +34 951 38 61 61 or by messaging our Facebook page www.facebook.com/EuroWeeklyNews

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