4,248 kilograms of cocaine seized in a Venezuelan fishing boat destined for Spain

Spanish and Portuguese agents have managed to reveal the means by which the large criminal organizations in South America provide added security to their maritime operations

A total of 20 people have been detained, three of them in Venezuela as allegedly responsible for the criminal organization that owns the intervened drug

October 11, 2021.- Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with the Polícia Judiciária de Portugal, in addition to the Navy and Air Force of the Portuguese country, have led an international police operation that has resulted in the intervention 4,248 kilograms of cocaine in a Venezuelan fishing boat that was destined for the Spanish coasts.

The operation has also revealed the method used by South American criminal organizations to provide security for their maritime operations. A total of 20 people have been arrested, three of them as presumed leaders of the criminal organization that owns the seized drug.

Investigations began in June 2020 on a criminal organization dedicated to the introduction into Europe of important consignments of cocaine by boats, led by a Spanish-Moroccan individual who was hiding in an undetermined place in Catalonia for having an order for his extradition in force. for a drug trafficking offense.

With the progress of the efforts carried out by the investigators, at the end of the year it was found out that the drug transporters’ fishing boat was sailing to a certain geographical point in the Atlantic, established by the exporting organization to collect a significant amount of cocaine.

After alerting the organizations dedicated to the coordination of operations against drug trafficking at the international level, it was agreed to establish a joint device between the police authorities of Spain, Portugal, Colombia, the United States, France and Venezuela, the purpose of which would be to intervene offshore of the vessels involved.

The joint action of all these countries made it possible to discover how a fishing boat of those that habitually fish in the Caribbean, towing a high-speed boat, was at the point of delivery of the illegal merchandise. The purpose of this unusual working method would be to provide security for the transfer operation, since the use of boats of this profile, undetectable in these latitudes, offers drug operators an added flexibility when it comes to avoiding the action of the bodies. police. Along with all this, the agents were able to verify that the fishing boat was sailing towards its meeting place.

Detained during three different interventions

Various difficulties in establishing communication prevented the ship controlled from Spain from getting hold of the cocaine transported by the high-speed boat. For this reason, the French Navy proceeded to board the vessel that was concealing the illicit cargo. In this operation, eight people were detained, all of them Venezuelan nationality, with 177 bundles being intervened that threw a total weight of 4,248 kilograms.

One of the detainees had a police record in Spain having been arrested in 2008 by the National Police during an operation in which 2,800 kilograms of cocaine were seized hidden in the hold of a Venezuelan ship.

Another nine people were later detained by the Venezuelan anti-drug services during the boarding of the vessel that had transferred the merchandise to the previous vessel. To these are added three other arrests carried out in Venezuelan territory, in the case of three important drug traffickers responsible for maritime and land transport of drugs. 

Through this investigation, the National Police and the Judicial Police have brought to light the means by which the large criminal organizations established in South America provide an added security to their maritime operations, being able to place in previously unknown latitudes, large consignments of cocaine aboard ultra-fast and highly complex detection boats, supported by fishing boats that provide security and logistics to remain in the water for as long as their operations require.