Luxury sailboats stuffed to the gills with 40 tons of hashish, sailing from North Africa to Europe — all caught. But they keep coming. Here’s evidence organized drug rings are unrelenting. It’s the rise of the narco-sailboat!
The Mob Reporter here documenting the rise of the narco-sailboats —narco-velero in Spanish — courtesy of an Eastern European gang, mainly Russians and Bulgarians, based in Spain, named by police as the largest criminal organization dedicated to trafficking hashish into Europe by sea.
More than 25 people have so far been arrested in the probe — both on land and sea. I’ll deal with the freshest catch of the day first. On Nov. 27, 2021, police in Spain intercepted a sailboat called the “Floriana,” sailing under a Polish flag off the coast of the Spanish city of Cartagena with 4,760 kilograms of hashish.
Police thought they had already stopped them after a remarkable marathon of maritime interceptions, hailed as the largest ever attack against hashish trafficking by sea.
The first hit came in March 2020. A 56-foot, Dutch-flagged sailboat was intercepted. Police secured 4,244 kilos of hash. Their sailboat was, ironically, named “Phase One.” It was phase one, for police. This chase was just the beginning.
In July 2020, a British flagged sailboat called the “Hanna” was intercepted in the Atlantic, off Spain’s southwest coast. The 48-foot sailboat was carrying a modest load: 360 kilos.
Then in September 2020, four of the group’s sailboats set sail almost simultaneously from the Canary Islands, Spanish territories in the Atlantic, off the western coast of Africa. Police intercepted all four in five days. Together they carried 35 tonnes.
Spain - MR.
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