Simon Hunter
THE Spanish Civil Guard has made six arrests in recent days, as part of the country’s ongoing war with drug gangs on the southern coast.
As well as the detentions, the police also seized five vessels being used for the transport of narcotics, as well as 2,319 kilos of hashish and 7,725 litres of fuel.
The operations took place in several different areas along the coast of southwestern Cadiz province and the River Guadalquivir.
The Guardia Civil was working in conjunction with the Portuguese Guarda Nacional Republicana (GNR) for one of the operations, which netted 76 packages of hash that were being transported on a speedboat.
Another of the operations saw the arrested drug traffickers throw their haul into the sea in a bid to avoid detention.
Meanwhile, last week saw officers stop a vessel on the River Guadalquivir that was carrying 3,850 litres of fuel destined for the drug-running boats.
These latest crackdowns on the narco gangs in the area come in the wake of the tragic deaths of two civil guards in February when their small speedboat was deliberately rammed by a larger craft being piloted by a drug gang.
The gang were using a powerful 14-metre speedboat at the time of the incident, which took place in the port of Barbate, Cadiz. A total of six civil guards were in the targeted craft, which was only a small, six-metre vessel.
The victims were named as Miguel Angel Gomez Gonzalez, 39, and David Perez Carracedo, 43. They were killed when the large speedboat was deliberately piloted over the smaller Guardia Civil vessel.
Two more of the civil guards were left injured, one seriously, while the remaining two escaped unharmed.
Read more:
- Eight arrests in Spain’s Cadiz province after two civil guards killed during a boat chase with drug gangs
- Violent gang members who robbed dozens of homes on Spain’s Costa Blanca are finally arrested
- Boss of €30m narco clan known as ‘the Chestnuts’ is jailed for six years
