Walter Finch
ONE of the Strait of Gibraltar’s notorious narco boats was discovered washed up on a tourist beach in Estepona province yesterday
The vessel was found stranded on Playa El Paraiso Barronal near the provincial border with Marbella accompanied by 45 abandoned fuel containers—a telltale sign of the complex fuel supply network used by narcotraffickers in the region.
The location has piqued the interest of locals in such an expat-heavy environment because most of the narco trade is thought to have migrated farther west into the Atlantic.
Local sources suggest the boat’s crew likely fled due to recent storms forcing them to come closer inland where they are more vulnerable to unexpected Guardia Civil patrols or mechanical failure.
READ MORE: Drugs gang copied ‘Breaking Bad’ narco TV drama by laundering money via a car wash business in Spain
The video was filmed by the Instagram page @fuengirolasequeja.
This discovery illuminates the evolving strategies of drug smugglers following a 2018 government decree prohibiting narco boats within Spanish jurisdictional waters.
The new regulations have forced traffickers to adapt, creating floating ‘narco-marinas’ in the Mediterranean where vessels remain constantly at sea, relying on support boats to bring fuel for drug runs—a practice known in trafficking circles as petaqueo.
The Strait of Gibraltar remains a critical corridor for cocaine trafficking, with narco boats using high-speed rubber boats to transport drugs from Morocco to Spain’s southern coast.
These vessels can quickly offload contraband and disperse, making interdiction challenging for maritime authorities.
The Guardia Civil is currently investigating the ownership and origin of the abandoned boat, which represents yet another chapter in the ongoing battle against drug trafficking in the region.
