A joint large-scale operation involving the Guardia Civil, the Policía Nacional and the Customs Surveillance Service — in close coordination with international anti-drug agencies — has resulted in the high-seas boarding of the ocean-going tug GT Victory and the seizure of 3,361 kilograms of cocaine. The vessel, sailing under Panama’s flag of convenience, was intercepted in Atlantic waters near the Canary Islands after operating for weeks as a ghost ship without a positioning signal on international radar systems.
Tension during the boarding and a high-seas escape
The high-seas assault took place after military and maritime intelligence alerts warned of the transport of a large consignment ultimately bound for Europe or North Africa. The boarding operation involved moments of intense operational tension: the tug’s crew ignored orders to stop issued by the security forces, fled and began extremely dangerous evasive manoeuvres in open waters. The pursuit continued until members of the assault team managed to disable the engines and board the vessel directly. Although intelligence reports indicated the presence of weapons on board and open resistance from the sailors, the operation ended without gunfire or injuries among the officers or suspects.
139 bales hidden in the vessel’s technical structure
A meticulous search of the structure uncovered a haul of 139 large bales distributed among the holds and technical compartments. The total volume seized makes this operation one of the largest drug seizures recorded in the Atlantic region in recent years, along a key logistics corridor for the movement of drugs from South America to Europe using a mother-ship operation.
Fifty days with its radar switched off and a simulated course
The maritime tracking history of the GT Victory reveals serious operational irregularities. The vessel is a 26-metre-long tug that is 50 years old — built in the Netherlands in 1976 — whose last officially recorded port call took place on July 13 at the port of Gibraltar, from where it declared a false course toward Morocco. From that date, the ship stopped transmitting its automatic identification system (AIS) for more than 50 days, even simulating false coordinates in Southeast Asian waters to evade satellite monitoring by coastguard services.
Balkan command structure and Asian crew
The operation resulted in eight crew members being arrested, of Albanian and Filipino nationality. The combination of profiles reflects the modus operandi of transatlantic organised crime: the use of technical crew from Southeast Asia to operate the vessel, combined with the presence on the bridge of members of networks from southeastern Europe, responsible for controlling the cargo and its logistics.
Transfer to port and judicial custody before the Audiencia Nacional
After the vessel was secured at sea, the GT Victory was escorted by maritime patrol boats and moored under police custody at the Santa Cruz de Tenerife port basin, where forensic teams are completing their inspection of the structure. Meanwhile, the eight arrested suspects were transferred to Gran Canaria to appear before the Central Investigating Court of the Audiencia Nacional, the competent judicial body for proceedings involving international drug-trafficking offences and membership of a criminal organisation committed in international waters.
Investigation into the land-based receiving network remains open
The police operation remains ongoing and under judicial secrecy. Investigators are now focusing on reconstructing the ship-to-ship transfers at sea through which the tug received the cocaine, as well as identifying the recipients on land who were awaiting the unloading of the consignment. Further arrests in the coming hours have not been ruled out as part of the network’s land-based branch.
The article Ghost tug carrying 3.3 tonnes of cocaine, which arrived from the Canary Islands, was bound for Morocco and had departed Gibraltar was first published on canarymaritime.com.
