Overview

• The 22-metre Cameroonian-flag tugboat had been under investigation since 2024 for acting as a mid-Atlantic mothership collecting bulk cocaine loads destined for Europe.
• Spanish Navy boarding teams and Guardia Civil UEI operatives intercepted the vessel on August 8 in international waters west of the Canary Islands, uncovering roughly 3,000 kg of cocaine concealed in 80 bales within its hull.
• Five crew members—four Bangladeshis and one Venezuelan—were detained on charges of drug trafficking and are being processed by judicial authorities in Tenerife.
• The operation resulted from intelligence sharing among France’s DNRED, Moroccan law enforcement and support from the UK’s NCA, the US DEA and Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária, coordinated via CITCO and MAOC-N.
• Investigators continue to probe the broader ‘Atlantic Route,’ focusing on supply chains, transshipment points such as Dajla and networks that exploit derelict vessels for large-scale cocaine trafficking.