Madrid, Sept 21. (dpa/GNA) – Spanish authorities have seized a yacht, carrying 2.1 tons of cocaine some 650 kilometres off the coast of Galicia in the north-west of the country.
The four crew members, from Argentina, Uruguay, Colombia and Albania, have been detained, the Spanish Tax and Customs Authority (AEAT) announced on Monday.
Another member of the gang was arrested in Girona, near Barcelona. The 14-metre-long yacht, which was flying the Polish flag, was towed to the port of Vigo. It had been under surveillance since it set sail in July from the port of Roses on the Spanish Mediterranean coast, near the border with France, the AEAT added.
The customs authority said the incident is likely tied to a criminal group, specializing in drug smuggling using sailing yachts, which has offered its services to organizations in Eastern Europe and the Balkans.
French customs, Polish and British police, and the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were also involved in the successful seizure. The AEAT did not initially disclose where the drugs came from, or when and where they were loaded onto the yacht.
The agency described the operation as part of the fight against drug trafficking on what is known as the “trans-Atlantic cocaine route.”
The route is known for the use of sailing boats from South America, which transfer the drugs in the middle of the Atlantic, before smuggling them into Europe as inconspicuously as possible.
GNA