Suspected drug trafficker dies during police boat chase off Spain's coast

The authorities seize some 600-700 kilograms of a yet-to-be determined type of drug from the boat.

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A suspected drug trafficker died on Monday night off the southern coast of Spain while being chased by a police boat, the authorities said Tuesday, the latest such incident in the region.

The chase began shortly before 10:00 pm when Spain’s Civil Guard spotted a suspicious boat loaded with packages with four people on board some 20 nautical miles from the mouth of the Guadalquivir River near the city of Cadiz, a spokesman for the police force told AFP.

One of the passengers, a 23-year-old Moroccan, fell into the water during the chase. Police threw him a rope and a life preserver, and an officer jumped into the water to try to rescue the man but he “refused the help,” the spokesman said.

The Moroccan man died despite attempts by Civil Guard officers to resuscitate him, the spokesman added.

Police arrested two other passengers of the suspected drug boat while a fourth was also injured during the chase and was hospitalized.

The authorities seized some 600-700 kilos (1,300- 1,500 pounds) of a yet-to-be determined type of drug from the boat.

The mouth of Guadalquivir River is frequently the scene of chases between police and drug traffickers.
It is considered one of the main points of entry for drugs into Europe, due to its proximity to Morocco, a top cannabis producer.

In November 2024 a drug trafficker died in the region when the boat he was traveling in collided with a Civil Guard vessel during a chase.

And in September 2024 another drug trafficker died when his boat loaded with bales of hashish crashed at full speed into the banks of the Guadalquivir River while trying to escape from police.

Two police officers died at the start of 2024 after their boat was struck by a drug boat during a chase in the port of Barbate, in the province of Cadiz.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska deemed their deaths “murder” and vowed “zero impunity” against drug trafficking in the region.