In a statement, the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation (Eurojust), which coordinated the international investigation, said that “23 kilos of heroin, two marijuana plantations, four narco-boats and more than 150 thousand euros in cash” were also seized.
Authorities “intercepted two boats with drugs before they could leave”, in an operation carried out in Viana do Castelo and Galicia, Spain, mobilising 200 agents and which led to the arrest of 28 suspects in Spain, he adds.
Due to cooperation between Portuguese and Spanish authorities, coordinated by Eurojust, “all members of the group were identified and sufficient evidence was gathered to launch an international operation that dismantled the criminal group”, indicates the agency for judicial cooperation.
“The criminal group manufactured illegal boats that were used to transport large quantities of drugs to Spain. He was also involved in drug trafficking”.
According to Eurojust, “the criminal group set up several warehouses in Spain and Portugal, where boats that are illegal in Spain were manufactured in Portugal”.
“The boats were then sold to other criminal groups, who used them to transport drugs such as heroin and marijuana to Spain”, he describes.
The group “also used its own boats and crews to transport drugs to Spain.”
The investigation began at the end of 2022 when authorities “learned about the production and sale of narco-boats by the group”, which was “active in Portugal and Spain”.
That is why a joint investigation team (JIT) was created at Eurojust “to allow Portuguese and Spanish authorities to investigate the organization together”.
The team “enabled authorities to exchange information and evidence directly and quickly, cooperate in real-time, and conduct joint operations.”
In April, the Spanish Guardia Civil told Lusa that three Portuguese men were being investigated as part of the dismantling of an alleged criminal network that operated in Galicia and the North of Portugal to supply speedboats for drug trafficking.
In a police operation carried out in Galicia and Valença, in the district of Viana do Castelo, six people were arrested and another five were placed under investigation, three of whom were Portuguese nationals, as they were “presumed perpetrators of the crimes of belonging to a criminal organisation, laundering of money and drug trafficking”, described the General Directorate of the Spanish Guardia Civil in a press release.
“The organization operated between the province of Ourense and the North of Portugal, from where it supplied engines and speedboats to organisations in the Strait of Gibraltar area that used them in drug trafficking and the illegal transport of immigrants”, he then stated, the Guardia Civil, which worked with the Spanish tax authority, in collaboration with the Judicial Police (PJ) of Braga.
During the operation, it was found that “several of the vessels manufactured by the organisation are linked to the seizure of more than four thousand kilos of cocaine and four thousand kilos of hashish in the Strait of Gibraltar and in international waters”, added the Spanish police.
The authorities then seized 30 thousand euros in cash, eight boats, 25 large displacement engines, nautical equipment, GPS radars, antennas and various documentation, computers and mobile terminals, adds the Guardia Civil statement.