Police Seize 7 Tonnes of Hashish from Ship off Costa del Sol

POLICE have seized seven tonnes of hashish from a ship off the Costa del Sol.

Officers from the police seized seven tonnes of hashish from a ship out to sea off the Costa del Sol.
According to Spanish newspaper Sur, police also arrested three people during the investigation into drug trafficking.
Officers from the Tax Agency, Guardia Civil and the National Police have carried out an operation that resulted in the seizure of more than seven tons of hashish and the arrest of three people, after boarding a boat in international waters off the Costa del Sol.
According to sources, the boat had been under investigation for more than a year and was the target of the Maritime Centre for Analysis and Operations, a European body to combat drug trafficking at seas, as well as the Galician and Canary Islands Customs Maritime Intelligence Offices.
The police investigation into the boat began last year, after it was already investigated by other countries.
The ship, according to the investigators, had been used to carry drug drop offs in several countries, and was run by a high-level criminal gang bringing hashish through the Spanish coasts.
The gang had allegedly set up its logistics point in Huelva, where judicial proceedings were opened by the Guardia Civil and the Customs Surveillance department of the Tax Agency.
The investigations led to the identification of the crew members before police boarded the ship.
Two Guardia Civil vessels were used, the Rio Arlanza patrol boat and the Rio Miño ocean vessel, with the collaboration of two agents from the Tax Agency.
The drugs boat was boarded with two auxiliary boats from the Miño River, without the crew members detecting the agents until they were on board.
Once police were on board, the drugs ship was escorted to Cadiz where officers found 200 loads of hashish, weighing 7,130 kilos.
The news follows police investigations into drug trafficking on the Costa del Sol.