Alex Trelinski
A NARCO-BOAT escaped the clutches of the Guardia Civil after transporting 1.5 tons of hashish to an Alicante province beach.
The craft was spotted approaching the La Marina area of Elche on June 13 and landed at El Pinet beach with the crew unloading bales of hashish, each pack weighing 35 kilos.
The Guardia along with local police from Elche and Santa Pola converged on the scene with two people fleeing on foot before being caught.
Fifty drums of gasoline were left behind along with two cars abandoned at the edge of the sea.
A Guardia vessel then went in pursuit of the narco-boat which had up to ten people in it.
The crew threw bales of hashish into the water to reduce the boat’s weight to gain extra speed.
The craft had four powerful outboard motors and it managed to shake off the Guardia after two hours.
The two men arrested at El Pinet were jailed after appearing before an Elche court.
In a separate operation the day before, 3.5 tons of hashish was seized by the Elche Policia Local in the Valverde district.
The drugs were being transported in two vans and five Spaniards in their twenties were detained with four of them subsequently imprisoned.
