Moroccan gendarmes seized more than three tonnes of cocaine off the coast of Tarfaya after intercepting inflatable boats carrying the shipment toward shore.
The operation was carried out by the Royal Gendarmerie’s regional command in Laayoune-Sakia El Hamra following intelligence work and close monitoring of suspicious movements at sea, the sources said.
Investigators tracked inflatable boats that had received the cocaine from a commercial vessel offshore before attempting to transport it to the Moroccan coast as part of an international trafficking operation.
Royal Gendarmerie units intercepted the boats at sea before they reached land and seized the entire shipment, which weighed more than three tonnes, according to the same sources.
The operation is one of the largest recent cocaine seizures recorded off Tarfaya and comes as Moroccan security services step up surveillance along the country’s Atlantic coastline to counter transnational organised crime networks.
The seizure also points to the growing use of maritime transfer operations in which larger vessels hand over drug shipments to smaller boats capable of approaching the coast more discreetly.
Acting on instructions from the competent prosecutor’s office, the Royal Gendarmerie has opened a judicial investigation to identify all individuals involved in the operation and determine the network’s possible connections inside Morocco and abroad.
Investigators are also expected to establish the origin of the shipment, its intended destination and whether local accomplices were preparing to receive and distribute the drugs after they reached shore.
The operation forms part of continuing efforts by Moroccan authorities to strengthen maritime border surveillance and disrupt international cocaine trafficking routes operating along the Atlantic coast.
add your comment
Terms of publication : Not to offend the writer, people, sacred things, or attack religions or the divine self, and refrain from racist incitement and insults.