They can quickly reach 100 kilometers/hour and are capable of transporting several tons of drugs in a single trip. The well-known ‘narcolanchas’ are an asset for drug trafficking and this Monday they were preparing to bring four thousand kilos of hashish and 627 kilos of cocaine to Spain, through the Strait of Gibraltar, when they were intercepted by the Spanish police. These “flying speedboats” were controlled from Lisbon by a Spanish “historical drug trafficker”, Sergio Anaya, wanted in Spain since 2020 and who ended up detained by the Judicial Police in a simultaneous operation on both sides of the border. It is precisely at this point that Portugal becomes a facilitator of drug trafficking and becomes a safe place for traffickers: Portuguese legislation, unlike what happens in Spain, does not criminalize the purchase and use of speedboats. That’s why the Iberian drug trafficking network dismantled this week decided to establish its logistics base in Lisbon. In fact, Sérgio Anaya, considered the leader of the group that dominated cocaine and hashish trafficking in the Strait of Gibraltar, was the only one of the 31 detainees who was in Portugal.
“Speedboats, as their only function is to support drug trafficking, in Spain are considered a strong indication of drug trafficking, which is enough to say that whoever uses speedboats is committing the crime of drug trafficking” , begins by explaining the Judiciary Police source to the Observer. On the contrary, in Portugal“legislation is being studied to eventually adopt a similar situation, but it has not yet been adopted”, he adds. It is this difference that makes Portugal an attractive country for Spanish traffickers.
“Until you adopt [a mesma legislação]Spanish traffickers come to port in Portugal, because they know that it’s not like that here. Sometimes, there are seizures due to administrative non-compliance — either because the boat is not properly registered, or because there is too much fuel in the tanks and they do not have a license to transport fuel. Sometimes, there are ways to, administratively, retain the boat, but it is not possible, in terms of criminal proceedings, to promote an arrest”, explains the same PJ source.
Dismantled the largest drug trafficking network in the Strait of Gibraltar, which had an operations center in Lisbon
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This Monday, the PJ searched five houses “in a luxurious neighborhood” Greater Lisbon and Sérgio Anaya, described as “a historic drug trafficker” and who had been wanted by the Spanish police since 2020, was in one of the houses. However, a PJ source also said that it has already been an extradition warrant has been issued so that the drug trafficker, known as ‘Bola’, can return to Spain, where he will appear in court. At the same time, in Spain, another 30 people were arrested — including four drug traffickers who were also living in Portugal, but who had traveled to the neighboring country.
????Dismantled the largest network of drug transporters in the Strait by sea through High Speed Vessels
????Joint operation with Civil Guard, Tax Agency and Judicial Police of #Portugal
????31 arrested and 24 home searches carried out pic.twitter.com/IB7XgwkGdU
— National Police (@policia) April 16, 2024
It was thanks to fast boats, which were permanently in the water, that this network was able to get drugs to European territory. In total, There were always between eight and ten fast boats — called high-speed vessels — with their crew. And there was nothing missing, as they also had small boats that they used to carry food, water and fuel.
From Portugal, Sergio ‘Bola’ Anaya commanded trafficking in the Estreito
But it wasn’t just because of the ease of using speedboats that this network decided to establish its base in Portugal. According to a PJ source, “they were in Lisbon, they thought, less controlled”. In the luxury houses, they set up a coordination center with “the most modern communication technologies”, said the PJ in a statement, and the regional newspaper La Voz de Cádiz said that it was through this technology that ‘Bola’ gave instructions on how to move the boats in order to evade the authorities. In fact, in this operation alone, four thousand kilos of hashish and 627 kilos of cocaine were found on the boats, a commodity that was destined for several European countries.
In addition to Sergio Anaya, other drug traffickers who were already on the radar of the Spanish police lived in the same houses: Francisco, known as ‘El Piraña’, and the brothers Miguel Ângel and Rafael, who were part of the ‘Río Piedra’ network. These drug traffickers traveled regularly between Portugal and Spain and, according to a Spanish police source told El País, “they came and went, as if they had a double life”.
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