Drug Traffickers Evade Spanish Coast Guard in Gibraltar Strait

Night is the ideal time for these traffickers to operate. The heavy means of the Spanish coast guards do not impress the dealers who, aboard their boats called "lanchas" by the Spaniards, use subterfuges to escape them in complete tranquility, reports Paris Match.

The business is quite flourishing. Anything goes to get out of trouble. In order to get their merchandise through, one must be quite knowledgeable and master the smallest nooks and crannies of the passages. With a distance of 14 kilometers, Sanlucar de Barrameda, located north of Cadiz, open to the Atlantic or Linea de la Concepcion (for the Spaniards) is one of the new passages that replaces the Strait of Gibraltar.

It would allow intense and rapid smuggling, despite the pressure of the Spanish authorities since 2018. Thanks to the vigilance of the Guardia civil, several arrests are made: 5,000 in a year, for 150 tons of hashish seized, recalls one of the elements of the Guardia Civil Unit based in Malaga and created to fight this scourge.

The merchandise is transported from Morocco by sea. Once recovered on the other side of the border, it is reloaded by another part of the gang. It is indeed on land that the most dangerous stage is located, which is why the system is well-oiled so that the business does not take a hit, explains the magazine.

From the lookouts to the driver, including the collectors, each step is closely monitored and the people in charge of monitoring the police or loading the drugs are paid more than enough. The luckiest in the system are the drivers who pocket 15,000 euros to ultimately hide the merchandise, awaiting the arrival of potential buyers at the level of the "European supermarket".

In this business, the kilo of hashish, for 1 ton infiltrated, offers 4 million euros in revenue. Dynasties of criminals have thus been built on this traffic.