A crew member of a drug boat dies during a police chase on the Guadalquivir

A police chase on the Guadalquivir between a drug boat, the Civil Guard and Customs Surveillance has resulted in one of the occupants of the first boat dead and four more injured. The death, which occurred after the semi-rigid boat they were travelling in collided with one of the banks of the river, occurred in the early hours of this Saturday. The other four injured, with injuries of varying severity, have been taken by the Civil Guard to the hospital. The Armed Institute has recovered 121 bales of hashish in the operation.

The events occurred after one in the morning, after the deployment of cameras and sensors of the External Surveillance System (SIVE), the Civil Guard detected the presence of up to eight drug boats “entering at high speed” along the Guadalquivir River, as explained by the Cadiz Command. The armed institute deployed a large operation with agents from the Cadiz command, the GAR (Rural Action Group), the Maritime Service of Cadiz and Huelva and a helicopter to prevent the landing of the shipment.

One of the RIBs involved, with four engines, was loaded with drugs and accompanied by another boat that acted as a guide. When the two reached land, the crew began to unload the cargo. It was then that the Civil Guard helicopter surprised them by landing next to them. The arrival of the aircraft caused the crew to board the largest drug boat to leave the place, leaving behind 47 bales of hashish and the boat that acted as a guide.

The escape of the traffickers started a chase in which boats of the Civil Guard participated and which was joined by another vessel of the Customs Surveillance Service. However, the skirmish lasted only about 400 meters, according to the account of the Cadiz Command. “They initially went up the river as happens other times. When they see the agents they flee down trying to unload and crash,” says a source close to the armed body dependent on the Ministry of Finance. The drug boat collided with one of the banks of the river, in an area close to a place known as Brazo de la Torre, according to the same source.

The collision “at maximum power”, according to the Civil Guard, caused the drug boat to tip over. “The rubber [la embarcación] He went out with all his might [de velocidad] “The boat was on the Torre Arm, it passed us by the stern, it made a parabola and with little room to spare it left the river,” said a source close to the case. The violent collision caused the occupants to be thrown out and “their packages to fall out.” [de hachís] “on top of it,” the same source said. One of the occupants died in the incident and four others suffered injuries of varying severity.

It was the Civil Guard officers themselves, piloting an S20 aluminium outboard boat, who were in charge of rescuing the victims and evacuating them to the hospital. Following the incident, the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard of Cadiz has opened an investigation to clarify the causes of the incident. The proceedings are expected to be handed over to the court on duty in Sanlúcar de Barrameda. For a good part of Sunday morning, agents of the Armed Institute have been working hard to recover the wrecked drug boat.

The Civil Guard has not yet reported the identity or other details of the deceased. The operation also resulted in the recovery of the 121 bales of hashish that the alleged traffickers were trying to introduce via the coast, coming from Morocco. In addition to the first 47 packages that the drug traffickers left abandoned on land, the investigators added the recovery of another 74 bales that were scattered at the scene of the accident and that the Civil Guard recovered with the help of the Customs Surveillance boat.

On January 31st, another similar police chase ended with the death of another alleged trafficker, in this case in charge of refueling. The accident, which occurred in the area near the mouth of the Guadalquivir, occurred when a Civil Guard patrol boat spotted a semi-rigid boat adrift with four crew members resting. When they were surprised, they started the boat and it collided with the vessel. Agueda River The Civil Guard, according to the initial investigations carried out after the accident. After that incident, on June 8, another alleged trafficker died and another was injured, during another skirmish after a failed attempt to stash the drug. On that occasion, a Customs Surveillance boat was involved in the collision.

But the most serious recent incident occurred on February 8, when two Civil Guard officers —agents Miguel Ángel González and David Pérez— died after a drug boat ran over them in the port of Barbate. After the serious incident, the Armed Institute arrested eight people, accused of being involved in the incident. However, subsequent investigations carried out by investigators from the same body determined that the culprits were other traffickers who have not yet been arrested.