drug traffickers to get away

Police sources yesterday were said to be ‘furious’ that due to a lack of coordination between two Ministries – Interior that controls the Guardia Civil and Finance that controls the Customs Police – enabled drug traffickers to get away. It was last Tuesday when a group was discovered unloading more than a ton of Hashish on Bonmati beach between Santa Pola and Elche, and placing the cargo inside a powerful BMW car. The customs service had already raised its suspicions as the launch carrying the drug was traveling without any lights, and advised the specialised department of the Guardia Civil. However, the Customs patrol did not wait for the Guardia Civil to attend the scene, but instead, not only revealed their position to the traffickers, but also gave chase, which resulted in the gang abandoning their cargo on the beach and easily avoiding detention by the customs service as their launch was considerably more powerful than their pursuers. Meanwhile, the Anti Drugs division of the Alicante branch of the Guardia Civil apparently decided to send a patrol down to the area without previously advising their colleagues in Santa Pola, which resulted in the patrol turning up at the wrong beach as they did not have sufficient knowledge of the local terrain. The Finance Ministry yesterday issued a statement to the effect that it was ‘highly pleased’ over the confiscation of the drug shipment, but made no mention of the traffickers’ escape.