FLASH
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Spain sees its national security increasingly threatened: drug smugglers are using increasingly brutal methods, while the number of Russian ships in the Atlantic is increasing.
In the Strait of Gibraltar, the Maritime Operations and Surveillance Center (COVAM) counts 600 speedboats used by drug smugglers and also warns of an increase in the number of ships of the “Russian ghost fleet” in the Mediterranean and near the Canary Islands. According to the national security report for last year, up to 50 tankers are monitored every week.
According to the report, the presence of Russian ships has increased fivefold during 2025, especially in the Atlantic, near the coast of the Canary Islands. The nervousness is also being increased by the fact that more than 20 undersea cables pass through the surrounding waters. They connect the islands with each other, with Spain and with South America. These tankers, often old and unsafe, do not only transport oil from Russia, but also from Iran and Venezuela. In the past, they are also suspected of being used in the Baltic Sea for possible acts of Russian sabotage.
The report considers the activities of the drug mafia as a threat to national security, due to armed clashes, acts of revenge, kidnappings and the recruitment of minors. According to the report, traffickers do not hesitate to crash boats or vehicles into the ground when the police get too close. The document was submitted to the Spanish Parliament, writes the German media FAZ.
Smugglers also use weapons of war
This “increasing aggressiveness” is also manifested through the use of “weapons of war”. For this reason, police unions in Spain urgently request reinforcements, as the presence of drug boats is observed along the entire Andalusian coast, from Almería to Ayamonte, on the border with Portugal. Recently, according to the report, smugglers have increasingly moved towards the border area with Portugal and the Algarve coast.
Just a week ago, two Spanish police officers were killed in an accident during a chase near Huelva. Last year, a Portuguese police officer was killed on the Guadiana border river after smugglers rammed his boat. A similar incident occurred in 2024 in the port of Barbates, in the Spanish province of Cadiz, where two police officers were killed.
Last week, investigators announced that a total of 41 tons of cocaine were seized during two international operations. Police also intervened on the Spanish coast, where they confiscated tens of thousands of liters of gasoline intended for speedboats.
According to the assessment of Spanish security authorities, the route from Morocco to Spain in particular has been “revived.” In unusual diplomatic language, the report describes Morocco as “the largest producer of hashish in the world.”
Only 14 kilometers separate Morocco from Spain. Boats carrying several tons of drugs cover this distance in about ten minutes. The powerful engines reach over a thousand horsepower and the boats can move at speeds of up to 140 kilometers per hour. For this reason, the police often fail to follow them. /Pamphlet/
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