A 23-year-old young man died this morning at the doors of a health center in Los Barrios (Cádiz), after being involved in an alleged accident between boats smuggling tobacco from Gibraltar. The Algeciras Civil Guard Command is currently investigating the circumstances of an accident of which it was not aware. Two men took the young man in very serious condition to the health center and reported the incident to the health workers present.
The events occurred around 4:20 at the Los Barrios Health Center, one of the two in this Campo-Gibraltar town of 24,000 inhabitants. The young man, 23 years old and from San Roque, arrived with a serious head injury. Despite the intervention of the health workers present and 061, which went to the scene, “nothing could be done to save his life,” as sources from the Andalusian Health Service have confirmed to EL PAÍS. At the time of leaving him at the health facilities, the two men who accompanied him reported that the injuries had occurred during a collision between two boats that “presumably are dedicated to tobacco smuggling”, according to sources from the Civil Guard in Algeciras. .
The Armed Institute was not aware of this event and has opened an investigation to clarify the causes of the accident that cost the young man his life. Tobacco smuggling usually occurs near the coasts of Gibraltar and La Línea. There, traffickers take advantage of the Peñón's natural beaches and coves to bring small boats that load with cartons of tobacco and, later, transport them to La Línea or nearby areas, such as the district of Puente Mayorga, in San Roque. These movements are carried out in small semi-rigid boats, usually legal.
Tobacco smuggling in Campo de Gibraltar is one of the lowest levels that can be carried out in the trafficking of illegal substances in southern Spain. In fact, activity decreased during the strong years of hashish, given the greater profitability of this drug movement from Morocco. However, the Special Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar launched by the Ministry of the Interior in 2018 changed the rules of the game. Drug trafficking activity dispersed to other points on the Andalusian coast and part of the lowest levels of this business re-engaged in tobacco.
Since 2018, Gibraltar committed to raising tobacco prices, reaching a 32% differential with retail sales in Spain in a memorandum that is no longer in force, but continues to be applied, according to sources close to the Government. of Gibraltar. This commitment also included establishing mechanisms for exchanging information on the import and sale of tobacco. In general, the legal quantity allowed for purchase in La Roca is 10 cartons (2,000 cigarettes) and in restricted areas, three cartons.
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Despite these restrictions that have caused the movement of tobacco from Gibraltar to no longer be as profitable as before, smuggling seems to have been on the rise, according to two researchers from the Armed Institute. “They are getting the biggest thing,” says a civil guard from the area who requests anonymity. “With hashish being more stagnant here, tobacco has become their main source of income and they have to give it their all,” says another agent. However, the same civil guard assures that accidents at sea with this type of boat are not as common, as they do occur in shipments of hashish from Morocco carried out in drug boats with several outboard motors.
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