Spain has become the European epicenter of cocaine trafficking. Routes from Latin America use the Canary Islands and the Guadalquivir River as key points. Organizations employ mother ships off the African coast, semi-submersibles, and go-fast boats to evade controls. Criminal logistics include encrypted systems and firearms, challenging authorities in a constant and complex struggle.
Criminal technology: semi-submersibles and encrypted communications 🚀
Criminal groups have evolved their technical arsenal. Semi-submersibles, built in clandestine shipyards, navigate at shallow depths to evade radar. Go-fast boats, with high-power engines, reach speeds that outpace patrol vessels. Additionally, they use encrypted messaging apps and satellite phones to coordinate deliveries in blind spots on the Guadalquivir. These systems hinder interception and force security forces to update their surveillance methods.
If the Guadalquivir River could talk, it would ask for a toll 🛶
The Guadalquivir has earned the nickname the white highway. With so much movement of bales, its banks look like Amazon warehouses. The narcos use boats so fast that even dolphins would need a license plate. Meanwhile, agents try to guess if that boat carries tourists or a Black Friday shipment. The only certainty is that if the river charged a toll per kilo, Spain would pay off its public debt in a week.