A yacht was intercepted by the Portuguese Judiciary Police and Navy off the coast of the Azores, carrying 1,660 kilograms of cocaine.
In a statement released Friday, inspectors revealed that the 11-meter vessel, which was crossing the Atlantic Ocean from South America to Europe, was intercepted off the western group of the archipelago (Flores and Corvo).
Onboard, authorities found three foreign nationals, aged between 43 and 51.
“Operation Vikings is the result of a complex investigation that has been ongoing for the past two years. It aims to dismantle an international criminal organization engaged in smuggling large quantities of cocaine into Europe, using our country as a platform,” announced the Judiciary Police in the statement.
Operation Viking involved several authorities.
Due to poor safety and navigability conditions, the three yacht crew members and the narcotics were transferred to a Navy ship, which deployed a wide range of resources from the Naval Component of the Forces System, including command and control, patrol and surveillance, and force projection capabilities, involving over 50 military personnel.
Given the “complexity of the operation,” the Judiciary Police stated, “the investigation was supported by the Portuguese Air Force, the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center-Narcotics (MAOC-N), the Maritime Police of Ponta Delgada, and the Port Authority of Ponta Delgada.”
“Also, due to the nationality of those targeted and the geographic spread of their operations, assistance from foreign counterparts in international police cooperation proved significant, particularly the Spanish National Police, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Danish National Bureau of Investigation (NSK Danish Police), and authorities in France and Ireland,” the inspectors added.
The detainees will be presented for a first judicial interrogation today.
The three detainees from the intercepted and seized vessel will be brought before the competent judicial authority at the Ponta Delgada Court in São Miguel, Azores, for their first judicial hearing and the application of coercive measures.
The investigation is being conducted by the Criminal Investigation Department of Portimão of the Judiciary Police, and the inquiry is led by the Public Ministry (MP) at the Évora Regional Department for Investigation and Penal Action (DIAP).
The leader of the organization was arrested in Spain.
The Judiciary Police also reported that, simultaneously, as part of a separate investigation in Spain targeting the same criminal organization, the Spanish National Police, in coordination with Portuguese authorities, launched Operation Aproa and arrested a man believed to be the group’s leader.
In his residence, 63,000 euros in cash, a GPS device, a taser gun, numerous computing and communication devices—some encrypted—and an unspecified amount of foreign currency were found.
Over the years, several yachts have been detected off the Azores with drugs. One incident even inspired the successful Netflix series ‘Rabo de Peixe’ and the book by Rúben Pacheco Correia, ‘Rabo de Peixe – Toda a Verdade.’
