Spain's Civil Guard Takes Out Drug Smugglers

Melilla, Spain - In a case of life resembles cinema, Spain's Civil Guard have released a video of an exciting high-speed boat chase between them and a small boat loaded with 300 kilos of hashish in international waters off the Spanish north African territory of Melilla. An Italian helicopter belonging to Guardia di Finanza (Italian finance police), working with the Spanish officials, captured the live action on video as the Civil Guard vessel Rio Miño chased after the unlucky drug smugglers. The incident occurred on Wednesday last week when the helicopter, belonging to the Guardia di Finanza Italiano, noticed a sports boat sailing in international waters off Melilla was heading towards the Spanish coast. They could see several packages on board and they immediately suspected that these contained drugs, as similar packages have been seen before in the transportation of hashish. The Italian agents notified Spain's Civil Guard, who are usually on patrol in the area against drug trafficking and illegal immigration. As can be seen in the video, the Civil Guard boat Río Miño launched a smaller speedboat, which went after them and after a high-speed chase where the drug smugglers made several tricky maneuvers, the officials decided to board the boat while it was still in motion. According to police sources, once they boarded the vessel they were “met with punches and shoves” by the two Spanish men on board but the criminals were soon apprehended. Of the boat itself, it was apparently registered in Melilla and flew a Spanish flag, but its registration numbers had been deliberately removed. The drug traffickers were utilizing a high-powered outboard motor to increase the boat's speed, but they were still unable to outrun the Civil Guard. While this particular action was risky for the officials involved, it is not the first of this nature. Apparently in mid-June the same boat made another great blow to drug trafficking with the intervention of almost two tons of hashish in the process of being transported across to the Andalusian coast.