The Public Prosecutor's Office has confirmed to Maspalomas24H that it has requested 13-year prison sentences and hefty fines for three Moroccan nationals who were intercepted aboard a speedboat attempting to smuggle more than 1.300 kilograms of cocaine with a purity exceeding 81% into Gran Canaria. The preliminary indictment, made public this Monday, details the scale of the drug trafficking operation thwarted by the authorities. The events date back to the early morning of January 12, 2024, approximately six nautical miles off Vargas Beach, on the coast of Gran Canaria.
According to the prosecutor, the three defendants, identified as ME, YA, and ME, all residing illegally in Spain and with no prior criminal record, were transporting 38 bales containing 786,98 kilograms of cocaine on the vessel. They also threw another 26 bales overboard, which were recovered the following day, adding an additional 521,82 kilograms. The street value of the seized drugs, estimated to be over 81% pure, would have reached forty million euros. The prosecution emphasizes that the shipment constitutes a serious drug trafficking offense, both in its most serious and extremely grave form, due to the quantity, which is significantly higher than the threshold for significant value, and the use of the vessel.
For these crimes, the prosecution is seeking a 13-year prison sentence and a €100 million fine for each of the defendants. The indictment proposes substituting the prison sentence with expulsion from Spain once the defendants have served three-quarters of their sentence, or when they are granted parole or provisional release. This expulsion would also entail a 10-year ban on returning to Spain. The three defendants have been in pretrial detention since January 13, 2024.
