Spanish Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil Close Down Group Who Make “Drug Boats” & Supply Outboard Motors

A combined operation of the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• Within the framework of the “Vozka” operation, six individuals have been arrested and statements have been taken from five others as investigators.
• It has been confirmed that several of the vessels manufactured by this organization are linked to seizures of more than 4,000 kilos of cocaine and 4,000 kilos of hashish carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar and in international waters.
• Seized 30,000 euros in cash, eight boats, 25 large displacement engines, nautical equipment, GPS radars, antennas and various documentation, computers and mobile terminals

April 19, 2024.- The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, in collaboration with the Judiciary Police of Braga (Portugal), have dismantled a criminal organization based in Galicia and dedicated to the commercialization of outboard motors and the manufacture of “drug boats” for groups operating in the Strait of Gibraltar. In the operation, called “Vozka” and whose exploitation phase has been completed in the last few hours, six individuals have been arrested and the statements of another five have been taken as investigators.

The organization, also dedicated to money laundering, operated between the province of Ourense and northern Portugal, from where it supplied motors and boats to organizations in the Strait area that used them for drug trafficking and the illegal transportation of immigrants.

This criminal organization used the funds obtained from money laundering from drug trafficking to manufacture high-speed boats, which were subsequently transported to the Strait of Gibraltar area. It has been confirmed that several of the vessels manufactured by this organization are linked to seizures of more than 4,000 kilos of cocaine and 4,000 kilos of hashish carried out in the Strait of Gibraltar and in international waters by the Tax Agency, Civil Guard and Police. National.

Searches and arrests

The exploitation of the operation was carried out in the towns of Valença do Miño (Portugal), Ourense and Pontevedra, where six people have been arrested and five charged, all as alleged perpetrators of the crimes of belonging to a criminal organization, money laundering capital and drug trafficking.

During the course of the operation, seven house searches were carried out (four in Ourense, two in Pontevedra and one in Valença), where 30,000 euros in cash, eight boats, 25 large displacement engines, nautical equipment, GPS radars, antennas and various documentation, computers and mobile terminals related to criminal acts.

More than one hundred agents from the Civil Guard and the Tax Agency have participated in the development of the operation, as well as the Cynological Service and the Helicopter Unit of the Civil Guard of A Coruña. Specifically, the Customs Surveillance Operational Unit of the Tax Agency in Ourense (AEAT), the Organic Judicial Police Unit of the Civil Guard Command of Ourense, the Judicial Police of Braga (Portugal), the Organic Unit of the Judicial Police of the Command of the Civil Guard of Cádiz, CRAIN (Regional Center for Analysis and Intelligence against drug trafficking), and CCP (Police Cooperation Center of Algeciras)

The Operation is directed by the Investigative Court number 2 of Ourense and by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor of the Ourense Prosecutor’s Office.