Interior will intensify pressure against the logistics of the 'petaqueros' that supply fuel to drug traffickers

The drug trail by land in the province of Cádiz goes from a van full of flasks – fuel containers – in a gas station without attendants where they can be recharged to a small semi-rigid that is lost at sea; the activity of the so-called flasks is at its highest levels. So much so that on the same day that the Secretary of State for Security, Rafael Pérez, has announced that the Ministry of the Interior is going to intensify the investigation and prosecution of drug logistics, the Civil Guard has seized more than 4,000 liters of gasoline on board. of two parcel companies in Conil and Chiclana.

Pérez's announcement came after presiding over the Operational Coordination Table (MECO) that was held this Tuesday at the Parador in Cádiz. During the meeting – which was attended by various commanders from the Civil Guard, National Police, Customs Surveillance, the Prosecutor's Office and the Superior Court of Justice of Andalusia – the speakers highlighted the need for the Special Plan of Campo de Gibraltar Security now sets its sights on tightening the siege against all the logistics that move drug trafficking. This ranges from the incessant activity of supplying fuel and provisions at sea, the petaqueo, to the “storage and transportation of the stashes and the tasks of unloading and monitoring the drugs,” as explained by the Interior after the meeting.

The Special Plan is now facing its fourth expansion, since it was launched in the summer of 2018 and, although it retains the name of ground zero of the problem, it already encompasses the Andalusian provinces of Cádiz, Huelva, Málaga, Granada, Almería and Seville. Now Pérez assures that it is also necessary to strengthen international cooperation with Portugal and Morocco, given the movement of activity to other parts of the Mediterranean.

The intention launched this Tuesday by Interior to focus its activity on logistics clashes, in the case of petaqueo, with the current legal framework, in which Spanish regulations do not consider the storage or transportation of large quantities of gasoline as a crime. Hence, the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office has been demanding a legal reform for months now to prohibit these dangerous movements of fuel, similar to what was done in 2018 to declare drug boats a prohibited genre. Pérez has assured that the Interior is already working with the Ministry of Justice to introduce a “specific” legal modification to link this logistical activity with drug trafficking.

Pérez has assured that he is “uncomfortable” by the presence of drug boats along the Andalusian coast. Just like what happened on the night of February 9 when some drug traffickers murdered two civil guards in the port of Barbate, in these days after the storm, the traffickers once again approached the coast to take refuge from the rough seas. “We have had a drug boat anchored right next to where the meeting took place,” the same AUGC agent denounced. Pérez added that since the plan started in 2018, 1,400 vessels have already been intervened and 800 of them have been destroyed.

Between August 1, 2018 and December 31, 2023, the Interior has invested 39.2 million euros in reinforcing the police forces that operate in the territory affected by the Special Security Plan, which this year has a budget of 17.5 million euros that will be expanded in 2025 according to operational needs.

However, associations and unions – not present at this Tuesday's meeting – undermine the lack of criticism in the Interior balances. “Paper supports everything when it comes to numbers. They say that they have delivered 17 vessels when Cádiz does not have any operational, who knows what they are,” they denounce from AUGC Cádiz. In addition, the Prosecutor's Office has taken advantage of its participation in the coordination table to highlight the lack of resources suffered in the courts and the need to reform laws that have become obsolete, as explained by sources close to the meeting.

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