Ten drug traffickers arrested after firing at Civil Guard patrol boat in Huelva
A smuggling vessel opened fire on officers during a pursuit at sea off Huelva. The operation resulted in ten arrests and nearly six tonnes of hashish seized.
Ten arrested and 5,926 kilos of hashish seized following shooting incident against patrol boat in Huelva waters
The Civil Guard and the Customs Surveillance Service have arrested ten members of a drug trafficking organisation after occupants of a smuggling vessel opened fire on a patrol boat in waters off the coast of Huelva, according to La Vanguardia. The operation resulted in two vessels seized and 5,926 kilos of hashish confiscated.
The confrontation took place in the early hours of 17 to 18 August, when a vessel from the Provincial Maritime Service of Huelva, in coordination with Customs Surveillance, began pursuing a semi-rigid speedboat suspected of involvement in a drug trafficking operation. The occupants of the smuggling vessel responded with highly dangerous manoeuvres and threw part of the cargo overboard to hinder the progress of the official vessels.
The situation escalated when the crew of the smuggling vessel fired at the officers. The Civil Guard states that its personnel had to respond with several shots to repel the attack. Despite this, the vessel managed to escape after the patrol boat suffered an engine failure during the pursuit.
The shooting activated a specific operation to locate the perpetrators and any other vessels that might provide them support. The search proved successful on the morning of 20 August: officers detected the smuggling vessel again along with a second vessel that allegedly came to its aid. A coordinated operation allowed both semi-rigid speedboats to be boarded and nine of their crew members arrested.
The tenth arrest took place separately and under unusual circumstances. The detainee had been shot and wounded during the confrontation and was abandoned by his own companions on the coast of Cádiz. Located later by officers, he was transferred to Puerto Real hospital to receive medical attention.
The investigation remains open to determine the degree of participation of each detainee both in the attack on the patrol boat and in the drug trafficking operation. The proceedings are being directed by the Central Court of First Instance of the National Court acting as duty court.
The incident occurs within a context of growing concern over the level of violence employed by organisations operating on the Andalusian coast. Civil Guard associations have been alerting in recent months to the increasingly frequent use of firearms and the operational capacity of gangs active in Huelva, Cádiz and the area around the Guadalquivir. Huelva has acquired significant importance in the routes used to introduce hashish from North Africa, and in previous operations in the province large quantities of drugs, high-speed vessels and fuel intended to supply the smuggling vessels had already been seized.
The week's operation involved the Provincial Maritime Service of Huelva, the Special Intervention Unit, the Organic Unit of Judicial Police of Huelva, the Regional Centre for Analysis and Intelligence against Drug Trafficking and the Customs Surveillance Service.
Source: La Vanguardia