The Judiciary Police, with the support of the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, launched an operation to combat international drug trafficking by sea, in which a recreational vessel, approximately 14 meters long, was located and intercepted a recreational vessel, approximately 14 meters long, which was crossing the Atlantic Ocean between Latin America and Europe and was carrying approximately 263 kilograms of cocaine.

Following searches of the vessel, which was escorted to the port of Ponta Delgada in the Azores, where it arrived yesterday morning, the two crew members, a 58-year-old man and a 66-year-old woman, both foreign nationals, were arrested in flagrante delicto. Operation “Albus,” conducted by the PJ’s National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking, was launched as part of an investigation led by the DIAP in Lisbon, and also involved the collaboration of the Bundeskriminalamt in Germany, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the Direction Nationale du Renseignement et des Enquêtes Douanières in France, the National Crime Agency in the United Kingdom, and the support of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Center – Narcotics based in Lisbon.

After the investigation is complete, the detainees will be brought before the judicial authorities for initial questioning and the application of coercive measures.

In Diário dos Açores-Paulo Viveiros, director

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