Report: Spain Detects 600+ Illicit Drug-Boats Plying the Strait of Gibraltar

COVAM, the Spanish Navy’s main maritime surveillance body, has identified over 600 speedboats suspected of actively engaging in drug trafficking operations around the Strait of Gibraltar.

The staggering revelation was reportedly disclosed by Spain’s Department of National Security to the nation’s Congress in a new annual report — and comes at a time when Spanish politicians are demanding tougher actions to fight against organized crime and drug trafficking around the Andalusian strait.

The Spanish newspaper El País detailed that the report ascertains that organized crime — particularly, drug-related crime — is a central threat to the national security of Spain due to tis “flexible and opaque nature” and its destabilizing potential. Most alarmingly, the Spanish National Security Department warned that traffickers have greatly expensed their offensive capabilities and have begun using military-grade weapons to retaliate against law enforcement’s counter-narcotics efforts.

“Drug traffickers do not hesitate to ram land vehicles and boats when they perceive a risk of interception or loss of the drugs, demonstrating greater aggression toward law enforcement officers,” the document reportedly read.

El País pointed out that the report has a cutoff date of mid-April. As such, it does not contain information on the recent death of two officials of Spain’s Civil Guard. On May 8, two Civil Guard boats collided with one another while in pursuit of a drug trafficking speedboat, an accident that also left two officers injured in addition to the two casualties. The incident echoes another similar event that took place in 2024, when drug traffickers rammed a Civil Guard boat at the port of Barbate, Cádiz, killing two officers.

The report notes that a significant portion of violent incidents in Spain are directly linked to drug trafficking. These violent drug incidents can manifest in several ways, such as armed confrontation, kidnappings, threats, settling of scores, or attacks against law enforcement that, in some instances, directly affect the general population.

Highly concerning, the report also expresses a dire warning on the recruitment of minors by criminal organizations operating in Spain to commit crimes that can range from simple minor offences to murder for money.

Over the past years, drug trafficking networks, most notably, those dealing in cocaine, have notably grown and become much more complex in its operations around Andalusia in southern Spain — effectively turning it into an entryway for drugs all over Europe. According to Spanish outlets, cocaine trafficking in the area has also become much more violent after gangs and traffickers began arming themselves with more powerful rifles and submachine guns.

Alfredo Flores, Chief Prosecutor of the Provincial Court of Huelva, told El País this week that he has never seen such a “quantum leap” in the growth of organized crime and drug trafficking throughout his 35 years in service.

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He detailed that higher volumes of cocaine mean that traffickers behave more dangerous and exact a higher decree of violence to protect their illegal cargo — with an intensity not seen until a few years ago.

The recent death of the two Civil Guard officers while in pursuit of a drug-trafficking vessel prompted the Spanish center-right People’s Party (PP) to call for tougher action against drug trafficking and to reinforce the Spanish Civil Guard’s capabilities against traffickers across the Strait of Gibraltar.

Other proposals presented by PP reportedly include equipping maritime law enforcement with non-lethal weapons capable of stopping drug-smuggling boats, toughening penalties, criminalizing “ramming” attacks against state security forces, and impose harsher penalties to those caught storing or supplying duel to traffickers.