Spanish police officer dies in narco-boat chase in Andalucía

A Guardia Civil officer died in the latest tragedy in the fight against drug-trafficking in Andalucía on Friday. Two patrol boats from the force's maritime service collided while chasing a drug speedboat. As a result of the impact, three other officers suffered injuries, serious in two of the cases.

According to sources, the incident occurred approximately 80 miles off the coast of Huelva, while the police were performing a high-speed manoeuvre off the coasts of Punta Umbría and Mazagón.

The name of the deceased officer is Germán, a native of Murcia.

The accident occurred between the patrol boat Río Antas (a very fast 13-metre vessel) and another semi-rigid 'rubber' boat, which the Guardia Civil had seized from drug traffickers.

Given the force of the collision between the two vessels, the Guardia Civil had to request assistance from the Navy to tow them to port due to the risk of them sinking. The customs surveillance service in Cadiz also dispatched a helicopter to the scene.

This is not the first time the security forces have lost life in the fight against hashish- and cocaine-trafficking in the south of Spain.

On the night of 9 February 2024, two Guardia Civil officers were killed and four others injured, after they were intentionally run over by a drug speedboat in the port of Barbate, in the province of Cadiz.

That incident, in addition to highlighting the violence with which the occupants of these semi-rigid boats act, marked a turning point in the demands for increased security for the police assigned to intercept this type of vessel.

A year later, in February 2025, the occupant of a narco-boat died after falling into the water during another chase with the Guardia Civil at the mouth of the Guadalquivir river.

Ironically, the Guardia Civil officer's death occurred at the exact moment when the Minister of the Interior was boasting about how the Guardia Civil had struck the "heart of the Atlantic maritime drug routes" that reach Europe with the interception of a ship that was transporting the record amount of 30 tonnes of cocaine.

The minister highlighted the "significant strategic leap" in the police response and presented another international operation that has led to the seizure of eleven tonnes of cocaine and 8.5 tonnes of hashish.