In the south of Spain, the tough fight against the influence of “narcos”

The death in February of two civil guards intentionally hit by a drug trafficker's boat highlighted the influence of the "narcos" in the extreme south of Spain, where poverty and unemployment create fertile ground for the recruitment of young people by gangs.

The video of the tragedy, relayed on the networks, caused dismay in the country: we see a powerful boat rushing, on the night of February 9, into a Civil Guard zodiac in the port of Barbate.

Called “narcolancha”, this type of boat which can transport 2 to 3 tonnes of hashish between Morocco and Spain, measures between 12 and 14 meters, has three or four powerful engines and is usually equipped with radar and night vision devices.

Capable of reaching 100 km/h, it “becomes a projectile” which “knocks down” everything in its path, Lisardo Capote, customs manager in the Campo de Gibraltar area, located near the British colony.

A view of Gibraltar from La Linea de la Concepcion, April 10, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

This region in the far south of Spain has been experiencing for decades the rhythm of arrests of traffickers and seizures of hashish, a cannabis resin of which Morocco is the world's leading producer.

Here, the traffic is “something historic and endemic”, explains Mr. Capote from the port of Algeciras, from where the boats responsible for patrolling the Strait of Gibraltar, which separates Spain from Morocco, leave. .

Part of the population “says: 'the easiest thing is to traffic'” because it “brings in a lot of money”, adds the customs official, faced with “narcolanchas” confiscated and piled up in the port.

– “Temptation” –

Francisco Mena, president of the anti-drug trafficking association Coordinadora Alternativas, near the Guadarranque river in Los Barrios, April 11, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

Young people – generally from disadvantaged neighborhoods where unemployment “reaches 60%” for this age category – “succumb to temptation”, confirms Francisco Mena, president of the association fighting against drug trafficking Coordinadora Alternativas.

“Drug trafficking feeds (…) on poverty and social exclusion,” he insists, recalling that certain towns in the region have among the highest unemployment rates in the country. Like La Línea de la Concepción, where it reached 33% compared to 12.3% nationally.

Convinced that the solution cannot be only security, the psychologist Daniel Grande Jiménez has created a program against academic failure applied in the schools of La Línea and organizes hikes or football matches to occupy the “very important free time in these neighborhoods”.

Inflatable boats confiscated from drug traffickers by the Spanish maritime service Aduanas are docked in Algeciras, April 9, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

A challenge as the sums promised to gang recruits to monitor police movements, unload cargo or pilot the “narcolanchas” keep many young people from the straight and narrow.

When “you resist the call of drug trafficking but your childhood friend (…) has a standard of living that you cannot afford, with the latest cell phone, the latest PlayStation, the best motorcycle (…), it is difficult to resist”, judges Mr. Mena.

– “Fed up with the bad reputation” –

A member of the Spanish maritime service Aduanas monitors the waters from his boat in the Strait of Gibraltar, near Algeciras, April 9, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

Hashish landings at night, on beaches popular with swimmers during the day, are extremely rapid. When a “narcolancha” docks, a swarm of people disembark the cargo to hide it in nearby houses or warehouses from where it will then leave for the rest of Europe.

“If you are two minutes late, you don't see anything”, confides a customs source.

Despite the death of the two civil guards in Barbate, the situation has calmed down in the sector in recent years where, previously, “narcos” openly confronted the police and unloaded drugs in broad daylight.

In 2018, a hospital in La Línea de la Concepción was even stormed by traffickers who came to recover one of their own.

Criminal lawyer Manuel Morenete during an interview with AFP in Algeciras, April 10, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

A few months after this episode, a special unit of the Civil Guard was deployed in the area.

Thanks to thousands of arrests spread over several years, it managed to dismantle the main clans dominating trafficking at the time and seize hundreds of tons of drugs.

But this success of the authorities has had an undesirable effect: the gangs are now led by “young people” who “have different rules or even no rules at all”, as the Barbate drama showed, explains Manuel Morenete, lawyer criminal lawyer in Algeciras, who represents several suspected traffickers.

A man looks at his smartphone in front of a kiosk in La Linea de la Concepcion, April 10, 2024 in southern Spain © AFP – JORGE GUERRERO

In the seemingly quiet city center of La Línea de la Concepción, many residents confide that they are fed up.

“We are fed up with the bad reputation” and the image of the city because the vast majority of residents of La Línea “work hard”, especially in the neighboring enclave of Gibraltar, and only “0.1% are traffickers,” confides Miguel Montes, local business leader.

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