A major cross-border police operation has dealt a serious blow to drug traffickers using the Guadiana River as their gateway into Europe. In just three weeks, 1,509 kilos of hashish were seized and 15 people arrested, as the Portuguese GNR and Spain’s Guardia Civil teamed up for Operation “Diana.”
The mission – the first coordinated deployment against organised crime on this stretch of the border – targeted the logistics networks that keep international drug trafficking moving by sea along the Iberian Peninsula, the police authorities from both countries said in a joint statement.
Police say crime groups have shifted away from Gibraltar following intense pressure there, pushing them into the border river between the Algarve and Huelva. Its narrow channels and hidden inlets became attractive landing points for high-powered semi-rigid boats trying to slip past surveillance, they add. Operation “Diana” hit directly at that new strategy.
Over the course of the operation, which lasted three weeks in November and is set to continue, police set up more than 200 checkpoints and stepped-up control on land, sea and air, stopping over 400 vehicles and identifying over 900 people.
By the end of their efforts, police had arrested 15 people and seized 1.5 tons of hashish, 36 boats (nine of them speedboats used for trafficking), 13 vehicles, 1,472 containers of fuel and one firearm. Overall, 98 offence reports were issued.
“The increase of police presence and coordination between the forces helped significantly stop illegal activities by these organisations in cross-border areas, both in terms of drug trafficking as well as other logistical activities that are linked to it, such as crew changes and refuelling or supply restocking,” the police forces add.
Both forces describe Operation “Diana” as only the beginning. New actions are already being planned to maintain pressure on organised crime and strengthen cross-border cooperation long-term.
Both countries mobilised some of their most specialised forces for the mission. From Portugal, the GNR deployed coastal and border patrol units, teams from Faro and Beja, and criminal investigators from the Special Operations Intervention Group – backed from above by the Portuguese Air Force. On the Spanish side, the Guardia Civil fielded ground officers, maritime patrol crews in Huelva and the Strait, and air support units scanning the border from the sky.
