Record haul of ecstasy from boat in the Region of Murcia

Guardia Civil seize 100,000 pills and arrest captain intercepted off coast of Mazarrón

The drugs found on board the boat

The Guardia Civil have seized more than 100,000 ecstasy pills from a boat off the coast of Mazarrón.

A spokesperson for the force said it was one of the largest shipments of the drug ever apprehended on a maritime route in the Region of Murcia.

The captain, a 30-year-old Algerian man, was arrested on suspicion of a public health offence, drug trafficking and smuggling.

As part of their constant monitoring of cameras along the Region’s 208-kilometre coastline to prevent trafficking of people and drugs, officers from the integrate exterior vigilance service (SIVE) detected the suspicious, high-speed boat as it was passing close by Los Lobos island in Bolnuevo/Mazarrón.

They sent a provincial maritime service vessel to identify the crew, and these officers arrived to find the inflatable boat holding its position near some rocks, with a single crew member who seemed not to have noticed their presence.

The patrol boat approached silently and very carefully because the area was so shallow, until one of the officers was able to jump aboard and catch him by surprise.

The suspicious boat was carrying several rucksacks and 14 canisters of fuel. Inside the rucksacks, the officers found numerous packages full of variously coloured pills which seemed to be drugs, so the boat and its crew member were towed to the fishing port at Mazarrón.

After analysing the pills, specialists from the Guardia Civil Judicial Police determined that they were made of the synthetic drug MDMA, also known as ecstasy.

They also seized the boat, an eight-metre inflatable with a 250 horsepower engine, as well as the fuel and a satellite telephone.

Image: Guardia Civil