Moroccan speedboat intercepted with 1,600 kilos of hashish on board

The Guardia Civil have intercepted a boat off the coast of Gran Canaria today, with 1,600 kilograms of hashish on board, and have arrested two men of Moroccan nationality who were heading to Gran Canaria with the drugs.

The boat was first spotted by the COC in Las Palmas at 1am this morning, who gave the co-ordinates of the suspect vessel to the Provincial Maritime Service (SMP) who dispatched the Rio Tambre Patrol Boat to the area.

They found the boat just 5 nautical miles from the town of San Andrés, in municipality of Arucas in Gran Canaria, which was a large inflatable rib with two crew members, who had sailed from Morocco trying to take a cargo of 55 bales of hashish ashore in the dead of night.

The Guardia Civil seized the narcotic substance, weighing in at 1,600 kilos, and transferred it to the patrol boat, and the two men were arrested. They were then taken directly to Las Palmas headquarters where they are held awaiting trial for drug trafficking.