The Civil Guard, in a joint operation with the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, seized on December 31 in the Coast of Tenerife a total of 46 bales containing 1,640 kilograms of hashish, in an operation that resulted in three detainees.
The operation began after citizen information was received about the presence of a suspicious vessel which was very close to the coast of the island of Tenerife, as reported this Saturday by the security body in a statement.
After receiving this notice, the Civil Guard activated various units of the corps, such as the Canary Islands area helicopter unit (UHEL), the provincial maritime service and groups of specialists in underwater activities (GEAS) that, with the support of a boat of the Deputy Directorate of the Customs Surveillance Service (DAVA), managed to intercept a zodiac type boat about 15 miles from the island.
In order to locate it, the Civil Guard helicopter immediately flew over the entire area and once it was able to spot it from the air, it coordinated with the vessels of the provincial maritime service of the Civil Guard and GEAS to direct its trajectory towards the suspicious vessel from the air and thus manage to intercept it.
After several escape attempts by the occupants of the boat, and once they were surrounded, they began to throw into the sea several of the bundles of hashish that they were transporting, added the Civil Guard.
Finally, the agents of the maritime service and GEAS managed to intercept the vessel and proceed to the detention of the three occupants, two men aged 32 and 36 and a minor under 16, all three of Moroccan nationality, as alleged perpetrators of a drug trafficking crime.
Once taken into custody, they could locate and collect from the sea the bales that had been thrown overboard.
The detainees have been placed at the disposal of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Investigative Court, along with the proceedings conducted by the Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) of the Santa Cruz de Tenerife Civil Guard and DAVA staff.