HUELVA, Spain – The Guardia Civil and the Customs Surveillance Service have arrested ten members of a drug trafficking organisation after the occupants of a narcolancha opened fire on a patrol boat during a pursuit off the coast of Huelva, in an operation that also resulted in the seizure of two vessels and 5,926 kilograms of hashish. The violent confrontation occurred during the early hours of August 17 to 18, when a Guardia Civil patrol boat, operating in coordination with a Customs Surveillance vessel, detected a semi-rigid boat suspected of involvement in drug trafficking and initiated a pursuit.
During the chase, the narcolancha’s crew carried out evasive manoeuvres of extreme danger, putting the lives of the agents at serious risk, and threw part of their cargo into the sea in an attempt to damage the patrol vessels and obstruct their navigation. The situation escalated dramatically when the occupants of the narcolancha opened fire on the Guardia Civil patrol boat, forcing the agents to return fire to repel the attack and contain the threat, wounding one of the traffickers. The narcolancha initially managed to escape due to a mechanical failure suffered by the patrol boat during the pursuit.
Following the attack, authorities deployed a specific operation to locate the vessel and arrest its crew. On the morning of August 20, a coordinated assault was carried out on the narcolancha and a second semi-rigid vessel that was providing support in open waters. The operation resulted in the interception of both vessels, the seizure of 5,926 kilograms of hashish, and the arrest of nine crew members. A tenth member of the organisation, who had been wounded by gunfire during the confrontation and abandoned by his companions on the coast of Cádiz, was also located and arrested, and subsequently transferred to a hospital in Puerto Real.
The investigation remains open to fully clarify the participation of those arrested in the attack on the agents and determine the responsibilities of each member of the criminal organisation. The operation was carried out by the Provincial Maritime Service of Huelva, the Special Intervention Unit, the Huelva Judicial Police Organic Unit, the Regional Centre for Analysis and Intelligence against Drug Trafficking, and the Customs Surveillance Service, under the direction of the Central Court of the National Court on duty. The incident occurred just a day after two hooded men shot dead two women and a minor in Isla Cristina, Huelva, in what is being investigated as a possible settling of scores related to family feuds linked to drug trafficking.
