Spanish police have disrupted a drug smuggling operation “to bring hashish over from Morocco using Ukrainian ‘narcodrones’,” the authorities in Madrid have announced.
The Straits of Gibraltar are less than 15km wide at their narrowest point, and Spanish authorities have long struggled to thwart smugglers from North Africa. While boats can carry more cargo, they are also easier to intercept – unlike drones.
“The ‘narcodrones’ were manufactured in Ukraine and then transported by road to the south of our country,” the Policia Nacional said in a statement on Thursday.
The drones were used by criminal groups in Campo de Gibraltar and Costa del Sol. Six searches were carried out in Algeciras and Marbella, while ten people were detained as part of the police operation. Seven of them have already been put in jail, the police said.
Dubbed “Operation Cyclone,” the investigation had the backing of Europol, as well as the police of Ukraine and Poland, according to Madrid.
Police seized a total of three drones, two operational and one still under construction. The Ukrainian-made UAVs are capable of carrying up to 10kg of hashish with each flight, and had a range of about 50km. This allowed them to fly into southern Spain from Morrocco and drop off their payload without having to land, police said.
While the identities of the suspects have not been revealed, the police said the drones were operated by “individuals from Eastern European countries,” on behalf of local organized crime. During the year-long course of the investigation, the smugglers allegedly transported “up to a thousand kilos” of drugs using the UAVs.
According to the newspaper El Pais, drug smugglers in the south of Spain have a long history of using innovative means to slip past the police. While the speedboats traditionally used to smuggle drugs can carry more cargo per trip, they are also easier to spot and intercept.
This is not the first time drones were used to carry drugs from Morocco. A French organized crime group, also based on the Costa del Sol, was busted by Malaga police in July 2021. They were using a large drone, capable of carrying up to 150kg, but it had to land to deliver the cargo.
In 2022, a father and son based in Cadiz were arrested for building underwater drones capable of carrying 150-200kg of drugs and sharing that technology with a variety of international criminal organizations.
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