Local police officers from El Campello (Alicante) neutralized the speedboat theft which drug traffickers were planning to use to allegedly transport drugs and people, the security agency reported in a statement.
On September 1, the police had already foiled a first robbery – with two arrests and one escapee – and last Wednesday the story repeated itself with the same result and the same scenario, the same sources recall. On this occasion, the police operation ended with a detained man of Maghreb originanother escapee, a small boat allegedly stolen in Almeria recovered and a powerful boat that they tried to steal in the marina.
On Wednesday at 11pm, the sailor on duty at the Yacht Club detected the presence between the pontoons of a small unknown boat as well as another larger one that had already been boarded. The objective was clear: a semi-rigid boat with a power of 700 horsepower (two engines of 350 each).
There were two men on board who he asked what they were doing when he saw that they had already removed the protective canvas and he warned them that he was going to call the police, which he did, which caused them to flee the scene, out to sea, heading north.
Several night patrols of the Local Police were immediately mobilized and spotted the small boat in the Morro Blanc Coveran aground after colliding with another vessel, while the two men fled on foot along the roads, separately and in different directions.
The chase ended with the arrest of one of them, who was in possession of a screwdriver – probably used to force the starting cylinders of boats -, narcotics and two mobile phones.
The small stranded vessel, damaged by the continuous blows against the rocks, was towed by the marine service of the Yacht club. On Thursday, at 1 a.m., the police operation ended. The recovered boat and the detainee are now at the disposal of the Civil Guard, in charge of the investigation.
So, on two occasions during the month of September, they tried to steal fast boats equipped with powerful engines, able to reach the Algerian coast in 4 to 5 hoursand in both cases, the collaboration between the Yacht Club staff and the local police was decisive in preventing it.
Police sources indicate that these organized groups are changing their scenario due to the “harassment they are suffering” on the Andalusian coast. They are now trying to transfer their illicit operations to the region of Murcia and the Valencian Community, mainly the province of Alicante.
