The
Fulmar
is taking advantage of the time of the largest number of cocaine shipments to Europe to make it clear why it is nicknamed "the terror of drug traffickers".
In two high-risk operations, the Customs Surveillance special operations ship has launched two boardings in the middle of the storm, which have allowed the seizure of seven tons of cocaine in the vicinity of the Canary Islands.
The last blow was known this Tuesday, that of the Mambo
sailboat
, which was transporting 2,500 kilos of cocaine directly from the Caribbean, but really the last-last has been that of the freighter
Blume
, where the agents seized 4,500 kilos of the same drug.
To intercept them, the
Fulmar
had to sail "to the west, between storms" so that the agents of the National Police and Customs Surveillance risked in separate approaches "with strong winds and waves."
The Customs Surveillance ships, dependent on the Tax Agency, are
predators
.
The already veteran
Petrel I
, a ship that was manufactured in 1993 as an oceanographic ship, has been emulated by its
cousin , the
Fulmar
ship
(both have been named after seabirds from the same family), a 61-meter-tall patrol vessel long and 17 years old, which has a helicopter pad and two auxiliary boats for boarding and interceptions.
More information
boarding at sea
The police have informed this Tuesday of the last hunt of the
Fulmar
, which on December 5, after a week of navigation "to the west between storms", caught the sailboat
Mambo
"in an area of low pressure, with significant winds and waves that made the assault and the boarding considerably difficult ”, assure police and customs officials in a joint note.
The
Mambo
transported the drugs in bundles piled up on the deck, perfectly visible.
Four men and one woman have been arrested.
The statement gives an idea of what the special operations ship of Customs Surveillance has been doing in the last month, until on January 18 it ended up boarding the cargo ship
Blume
, with the Togolese flag and which, apparently, was carrying 200 tons of coffee. , instead of the 4,500 kilos of cocaine that he actually carried.
It was also a dangerous attack, due to the high rails of the freighter, its large dimensions and the bad state of the sea... and because it was done at dawn.
A freighter with 4,500 kilos of #cocaine was intercepted in the east of the #Canary Islands and its 15 crew members were arrested.https://t.co/7VdZOpDxFx pic.twitter.com/n39bmyR6JY
– Civil Guard 🇪🇸 (@guardiacivil) January 20, 2023
The
Fulmar
left Cádiz on November 28, to sail west.
Clearly, she headed for the Canary Islands, because the following Thursday she was boarding the sailboat from the Caribbean that was carrying nearly 2,500 kilos of cocaine.
Subsequently, she has remained in the vicinity of the Canary Islands, where she will possibly continue, given the intensity of the cocaine season, the window of bad weather and rough seas that drug traffickers take advantage of to bring cocaine to Europe.
Since she was launched in 2006, she has had more than 20 tons withdrawn from the market.
In addition to the seven tons of these operations, on December 18, the Angolan-flagged fishing vessel
Simione
approached the Canary Islands with 3.3 tons of high-purity cocaine, which confirmed the validity of the African drug route.
At the end of November another 5.5 tons were already caught inside the port of Valencia.
