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Spanish police make biggest drugs haul of the year in Mediterranean

Xinhua, September 15, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed on Wednesday that they made the biggest drugs haul of the year in the Mediterranean Sea over the past weekend.

The Civil Guard recovered 14,480 kg of hashish on Sept. 11 when they intercepted a yacht crewed by a Bulgarian and a Dutchman off the coast of Murcia in the southwest of the country.

The operation formed part of an operation "INDALO" which the European FRONTEX agency is currently carrying out in the Mediterranean.

The seizure came thanks to information elaborated by the Civil Guard's National Center for Coordination- EUROSUR, based on previous drug hauls and the "study of other trans-frontier criminal activity."

The Spanish ocean going craft "Rio Mino" and an aircraft belonging to Italy's "Guardia di Finanza" were also involved in the operation, with the Italian aircraft localizing the yacht transporting the hashish and relaying its position and course to the Civil Guard to allow the boat "Rio Cervera", which belongs to the Provincial Maritime Services in Murcia, to intercept it.

The hashish was distributed in 540 packets filling all of the space inside the yacht and the capture brings the total haul of Operation INDALO to 37,700 kg of hashish and the arrest of 33 people. Endit