The National Police, in collaboration with the DEA and French Customs, intercepted a Venezuelan fishing boat near the Canary Islands carrying 2.7 tonnes of cocaine. Ten crew members, members of a Venezuelan cartel, were arrested. The drugs were intended to be transferred to land by a Spanish organisation, but logistical problems allowed the police to intervene.
The investigation of Operation Tuna Boat began in early 2024 when police and DEA agents began investigating a criminal organisation based in Venezuela that trafficked large quantities of cocaine using fishing vessels. They learned that in March a Venezuelan-flagged fishing boat was about to set sail from the Latin American country for the Spanish coast loaded with almost three tonnes of narcotics and tracked it.
Members of a Spanish organisation had prepared speedboats to meet the vessel some 250 nautical miles off the island of Tenerife and transport the drugs to land, but a logistical problem prevented them from reaching the agreed point. As they needed between eight and ten days to return to land, fix the boats and replenish the supplies, the National Police and the French authorities took the opportunity to intercept the fishing boat, where they found 2,700 kilograms of cocaine divided into 80 bales.
