Interior allocates 2.7 million to remove and destroy these aquatic environments, as well as fuel and the 1,668 tons of drugs seized
MADRID, 12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Special Security Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar has allowed the intervention between 2018 and 2023 of a total of 7,190 means of transport of organizations dedicated to drug trafficking and smuggling, of which 1,421 were vessels such as the ‘narco-boats’ with which they were run over and killed. two civil guards in Barbate (Cádiz).
The data from the Ministry of the Interior, consulted by Europa Press, leaves an average of 285 vessels seized per year thanks to the work of the Civil Guard and the National Police, with a balance, in addition, of 5,760 land vehicles seized and eleven aircraft or drones .
In addition, the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO) provides logistical support in another of the main demands of anti-drug trafficking groups: the destruction of drugs, dismantling of plantations and also the transfer and destruction of vessels, with the withdrawal and destruction of 820,000 liters of fuel.
In this chapter alone, the Interior estimates that it has invested 2.7 million euros, not counting those assets seized from criminal organizations that go up for auction in procedures supervised by the Tax Agency and the Ministry of Justice through the Management and Recovery Office. of Assets (ORGA).
Since 2018, the Ministry of the Interior has invested more than 79 million euros in the Campo de Gibraltar Security Plan: 39 million in the growth of police personnel and operational reinforcements and 40 million in the reinforcement of operational and security capabilities. intelligence and the material and technological means of the National Police and Civil Guard.
The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, said this Monday that he is not considering resigning and has separated what happened in Barbate from the lack of resources, as reported by police associations and unions, which have demanded his dismissal.
Sources from the Ministry of the Interior have stressed that on Friday in Barbate, when the events that ended with the “murder” of the two civil guards hit by a drug boat occurred, the six agents of the Armed Institute went by zodiac to the port of the Cadiz town because the patrol boats – of greater length and power – docked in the area could not set sail due to the poor sea conditions.
These sources have stressed that the Command requested the collaboration of Maritime Rescue and the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance, but their ships could not go out to sail either.
Last Friday, hours before two civil guards died after being hit by a drug boat in the port of Barbate, the minister announced the fourth Security Plan for Campo de Gibraltar, which extends from Cádiz to the provinces of Huelva, Málaga. , Almería, Granada and Seville.
The majority of police organizations have also called for the resignation of the head of the Interior by questioning the decision by which the civil guards went to the port of Barbate in a zodiac much smaller than the drug boat with which they were attacked. They also censure decisions such as the disappearance of the OCON-Sur structure, created with the arrival of Grande-Marlaska to the Ministry.
Interior sources have responded to criticism about OCON-Sur by recalling that at the operational level, both the Police and the Civil Guard can organize themselves as they deem appropriate to achieve “maximum effectiveness”, in execution of the Special Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar that it coordinates. the Secretary of State for Security.
“No coordination body has been deactivated since the plan began,” these sources have noted, alluding to the 150 agents who were “temporarily” commissioned to OCON-Sur with the arrival of Grande-Marlaska to the Ministry, and which he later “dissolved to integrate them into the territorial units of the Judicial Police in the scope of application of the plan.”
Within the framework of these actions, 19,907 people have been arrested or investigated for drug trafficking or smuggling crimes in a total of 22,207 police operations against criminal groups operating in the area, of which 17,580 are already prosecuted and 2,760 of them are for money laundering and other financial crimes.
The Interior has highlighted that, in the face of the cuts with the PP governments, the Security Plan in the south of Spain has allowed the reinforcement of the Police and Civil Guard staff, with figures that exceed 25,000 troops. “It is a historical maximum in the region; there are 3,690 more agents than at the beginning of the execution of the plan,” they maintained.
They point out that the organic staff of the National Police and Civil Guard units in Campo de Gibraltar have also received an extraordinary reinforcement of 1,181 troops on a monthly average.
The Security Plan leaves a balance between 2018 and 2023 of 1,668 tons of drugs seized, of which 1,452 were hashish, 106.7 tons of cocaine and 109.7 tons of marijuana or other drugs. 820,000 liters of fuel or 9.58 million packs of tobacco have also been seized.
Interior sources have also highlighted this Monday that the current crime rate for the provinces affected by the Special Security Plan amounts to 50.3. “This is 2.0 points more than the Andalusian rate (48.3), but with respect to the national rate of November 2023 (51.0) it is 0.7 points less,” they indicated.
In this sense, they have added that the crime rate in the Campo de Gibraltar region amounts to 48.4, which is 2.6 points below the national rate of November 2023.
