Located in the Amazon the ‘narcoastillero’ from which they were semi -submersible loaded with cocaine towards Spain | Spain

A joint police operation of four countries, in which the Spanish National Police has participated, has allowed to locate the clandestine shipyard in which they were built in an island of the Amazonas river in which they were built Narcosubmarinos destined to move great cocaine seasoning to Spain. The so -called Operation Lupus has allowed to intercept one of these vessels with the capacity to transport several tons of drugs when it was about to leave from the island of Marajó, belonging to the Brazilian state of Paraá, heading to the peninsular Atlantic coast, as reported on Monday the Ministry of Interior. The five people who were going to form the crew, although no more arrests have also been arrested.

The Brazilian authorities assure that the now dismantled narcoastille is the same as the semi -submersible as It was intercepted on March 25 in Portuguese waters to 680 nautical miles from the southwest of the Canary Islands when it was loaded with 6.6 tons of cocaine in an operation in the intervened the Civil Guard. That operation was a milestone in the fight against drug trafficking, because it was the first time that a boat of these characteristics was successfully addressed so far from the coast without giving time to his crew sinking him Before it fell into the hands of the police, as they usually make to make it difficult and even make it impossible to recover drugs as proof of the crime commission.

On this occasion, the intervened vessel was not yet full of drugs, since drug traffickers usually introduce the seasoning in the semi -submersibles when they are on the high seas, crossing them from fisheries or sailboats, detail sources fence to the investigation. « Given the risk of not being able to intercept it during that maneuver, it has been decided to intervene before the crossing began, » the same sources point out. According to police officers of the fight against drug trafficking, in the last year there has been a considerable increase of this type of artisanal vessels that start from the South American costs loaded with drugs towards Spain, but also to Africa.

Operation Lupus that has now allowed to locate the narcoastillero began in Spain after agents of the Organized Drug and Crime Unit (UDYCO) received information that an organization formed by Colombian and Spanish citizens were about to charter in Brazil a semi -submersible to send a shipment of several tons of cocaine to the peninsular Atlantic coast. The usual practice is that once close to the coastal area, the posters translated the stash from the narcosubmarino to high -speed boats for later landing on land.

The information was shared with the Federal Police of Brazil, which already had an investigation open after the interception of the narcosubmarino last March after it was found that it had been manufactured in its territory, and a joint operation was mounted, whose final phase has also participated the Air Force and the marine of this country with a helicopter and a ship respectively. In the investigations, the Portuguese Judicial Policy have also collaborated (which intervened in the interception of the previous intercepted semi -subtracted that had been manufactured in the same clandestine shipyard) and the American anti -drug agency (DEA, acronym in English of drug control administration). The investigation is still open to « identify and detain all those involved in the manufacture, logistics and financing » of the semi -submented, as stressed by the Brazilian authorities in a note.

Narcosubmarinos have become an increasingly used means of transport for the transfer of great drug vines from South America to Europe for its large load capacity, autonomy to navigate great distances and ease to hide in the sea. Since 1993, more than 300 vessels of this type have been arrested on the Atlantic. In addition, crew can ease them by letting the water in if they are surprised by the police.

Last year, The four crew caused the wreck of the semi -squeems in which they were traveling when they were about to be approached For the ship Furmalof the Customs Surveillance Service, at 280 nautical miles of Cádiz and 150 of the Cabo de San Vicente. Agents could only rescue the occupants. The narcosubmarino and its load were lost and, given the depth of the sea zone in which it sank, it was ruled out trying to recover them.