In the early hours of February 2, a police pursuit by sea of some tobacco smugglers ended with two Customs Surveillance agents injured by stones and a bitter diplomatic incident with Gibraltar.
Part of those responsible for these events, whose image appeared in a video that circulated like wildfire on social networks, have now been arrested.
The National Police has announced this Wednesday that it has arrested six of the alleged traffickers in La Línea de la Concepción (Cádiz), accused of serious attack on an agent of authority and injuries.
In addition, it maintains a search and capture order for the rest of the alleged perpetrators of an attack that led to a diplomatic complaint from the Rock for what it considered a "serious violation of British sovereignty and jurisdiction."
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A manhunt for smugglers in Gibraltar ends with two injured Spanish customs officials and a diplomatic incident
Investigators from the La Línea police station have found the alleged perpetrators between Tuesday and today, and it is expected that they will be brought to justice in the next few hours.
The six detainees are Spanish, residents of the Cadiz town or its surroundings, and are between 19 and 34 years old.
Three of them have records for crimes against public health, smuggling and money laundering.
The investigation, which is being conducted by the investigating court number 3 of La Línea, has been carried out with the support of the Campo de Gibraltar Prosecutor's Office.
The events occurred in the early hours of February 2, during a chase that ended on the Levante beach in Gibraltar.
The two Customs Surveillance agents arrived there after the boat in which they were chasing the smugglers' boat ran out of engine and the strong waves carried them to the beach.
There, the persecuted men threw stones at the two customs officers and caused serious facial injuries: one had to undergo surgery for fractures in the cheekbones and the other suffered a broken nasal septum.
Frightened by the presence on the beach of more than 20 smugglers who were beating and yelling at them, the agents reacted with shots into the air.
The violence against the agents was documented by the attackers themselves, who recorded a video that ended up being broadcast on social networks.
In it you can hear how they shout at them: "This is Gibraltar, this is not your job!"
When the assaulted ask for help to get back to their patrol car, they are told: “Now you want help, don't you, whistleblower?
Find your life."
The following day, Gibraltar reported that four Gibraltarian agents came to the beach who only separated the smugglers from the two Spanish agents and did not arrest anyone, given the disparity in forces, according to the Gibraltarian Government.
The event generated a diplomatic incident between Spain and the United Kingdom, since Gibraltar issued a statement denouncing the serious violation of British sovereignty and jurisdiction" by the Spanish agents, after condemning the attack and assuring that they were offered medical attention and that they refused it.
“The evidence surrounding this incident reveals a serious breach of British sovereignty and potentially the most serious and dangerous incident for many years.
Before reacting we must, of course, be sure of the facts, but events indicate that the actions of Spanish officials are intolerable," Gibraltar Chief Minister Fabian Picardo went on to say.
These words provoked, in turn, the pronouncement of the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which "categorically" rejected the terms of that declaration, "as well as the claims of an alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar included in it".
The British Foreign Office assured that it had requested “clarifications” from the Spanish Government about what happened.
After that bitter confrontation just when the negotiations were taking place to close the treaty that should govern post- Brexit
relations
between Gibraltar and the European Union —and that has not reached an outcome for months—, the attitude of the Rock has been different in the investigation of those now detained.
Spanish police sources confirm that this week's operation, called
Revenge
, has relied on Gibraltarian "collaboration" to find the identity of the culprits.
Now the investigators hope to be able to culminate the operation with the location of an undetermined number of people also involved in the events of that night and against whom there is already a search and arrest warrant.
