Overview
- The Fiscalía General’s 2025 report, made public this week, says narcotraffickers in Andalucía now openly use heavy weapons and have fired on security forces, and documents seizures that include AK‑47s, submachine guns and a reported rocket launcher.
- Seizures of cocaine rose sharply in 2024–25 with Almería increasing from 324 kg to 1,255 kg and Huelva from 558 kg to 2,972 kg, a shift the report links to narcolanchas moving beyond the Strait to Huelva, Málaga and Almería and to river routes such as the Guadalquivir.
- The report records growing professional links with foreign groups from the Balkans and Ukraine, notes organised ‘vuelcos’ and robberies, and says these networks now combine high‑power boats, advanced navigation and fuel‑resupply tactics called petaqueo; large fuel seizures in Almería and Huelva back that claim.
- Prosecutors and local officials are pressing the central government for new resources, including reinstating the disbanded OCON‑Sur Guardia Civil unit and creating dedicated anti‑drug prosecutors in Lugo and Ourense after procedures rose 21.3% and 11.1% respectively.
- The report stresses that Spain’s long coasts, major ports and navigable rivers have long made Andalucía and Galicia gateways for smuggling, and it warns that the mix of better logistics, heavier arms and stretched judicial capacity raises the risk of more violent clashes and longer investigations.