Arrests made after €100,000 ‘narco boat’ owned by major international drug trafficking gang ran adrift onto beach on Spain’s Valencia coast

TWO people have been arrested in Gandia after a narco-boat worth over €100,000 was discovered stranded adrift last year at L’Ahuir beach between Xeraco and Gandia.

A third person was detained in the Barcelona area and three others are being investigated.

The craft belonged to a Danish drugs trafficking gang that distributed narcotics across Europe.

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The gang members were mainly citizens of Moroccan, Spanish, Danish and Portuguese origin

The 12-metre long vessel had two powerful 330 horsepower engines and there was no crew or drugs on board when it was discovered by the Guardia Civil.

After months of investigations, officers identified the boat owners with the craft purpose built by a Galician nautical company.

Gang members lived in Alicante and Barcelona provinces and were part of the Danish gang who performed specific tasks for it like bringing drugs into Spain for onward distribution.

With the help of European police forces, the Guardia discovered the criminal organisation operated shell companies across the continent ran by front men with bogus identities to hinder any investigation.

A network of international bank accounts were used to pay for a fleet of seven narco-boats.

The boats were transported in in large semi-trailer trucks covered in fibre or canvas to avoid arousing the suspicion of the police.