Portugal and Spain dismantle “sophisticated criminal network”

In a statement, the European Union Agency for Judicial Cooperation (Eurojust), which coordinated the international investigation, said “23 kilos of heroin, two marijuana plantations, four drug boats and more than 150,000 euros in cash” were also seized.

Authorities “intercepted two boats carrying drugs before they could leave,” he added. In an operation in Viana do Castelo and Galicia (Spain), 200 agents were mobilized, resulting in the arrest of 28 suspects in Spain, he adds.

Thanks to cooperation between Portuguese and Spanish authorities coordinated by Eurojust, “all members of the group were identified and sufficient evidence was collected to launch an international operation to dismantle the criminal group,” according to the Judicial Cooperation Agency.

“The criminal group manufactured illegal boats that were used to transport large quantities of drugs to Spain. He was also involved in drug trafficking.”

According to Eurojust, “the criminal group set up several warehouses in Spain and Portugal where illegal boats were manufactured in Portugal.”

“The boats were then sold to other criminal groups who used them to transport drugs such as heroin and marijuana to Spain,” he says.

The group “also used its own boats and crews to transport drugs to Spain.”

The investigation began in late 2022 when authorities “learned of the production and sale of drug boats by the group,” which was “active in Portugal and Spain.”

For this reason, a Joint Investigation Team (JIT) was set up at Eurojust “to enable the Portuguese and Spanish authorities to jointly investigate the organization”.

The team “enabled authorities to directly and quickly share information and evidence, collaborate in real time, and conduct joint operations.”

In April, Spain’s Guardia Civil Lusa said it was investigating three Portuguese men as part of its effort to dismantle a suspected criminal network that operated in Galicia and northern Portugal to provide speedboats for drug trafficking.

During a police operation in Galicia and Valença, in the Viana do Castelo district, six people were arrested and five others were investigated, three of whom were Portuguese nationals, as they were “suspected perpetrators of crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering and drug trafficking,” described the General Directorate the Spanish Guardia Civil in a press release.

“The organization operated between the province of Ourense and the north of Portugal and from there supplied engines and speedboats to organizations in the Strait of Gibraltar area, which used them for drug trafficking and the illegal transport of immigrants,” he subsequently told the Guardia Civil , which worked with the Spanish tax authority in collaboration with the Criminal Investigation Department (PJ) of Braga.

The operation found that “several of the vessels manufactured by the organization are linked to the seizure of more than four thousand kilos of cocaine and four thousand kilos of hashish in the Strait of Gibraltar and international waters,” added the Spanish police.

The authorities then confiscated 30,000 euros in cash, eight boats, 25 large-displacement engines, nautical equipment, GPS radars, antennas and various documents, computers and mobile devices, the Guardia Civil statement said.