Moroccan security services have played a pivotal role in an international operation that led to the interception of the tugboat Sky White off the Canary Islands, carrying nearly three tons of cocaine destined for Europe.
The Spanish Civil Guard, working alongside the Customs Surveillance Service, carried out the maritime intervention and arrested five crew members aboard the Cameroon-flagged vessel. The detainees include four Bangladeshi nationals and one Venezuelan, authorities confirmed.
According to Spain’s Civil Guard, the bust follows a months-long joint investigation launched by Morocco’s security services and France’s National Directorate of Intelligence and Customs Investigations (DNRED). Intelligence gathered since the summer of 2024 indicated that the Sky White was engaged in large-scale international drug trafficking.
Investigations revealed that the vessel frequently used Morocco’s southern port of Dakhla as a strategic stopover to evade European surveillance. From there, it made multiple transatlantic trips, transporting cocaine from South America to Europe. Once in the Atlantic, the Sky White acted as a “mother ship,” transferring narcotics to smaller vessels operating near the Canary Islands and the Iberian Peninsula.
The operation benefited from wide international cooperation, with support from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA), the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Portugal’s Judicial Police, as well as coordination by the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Intelligence Center (CITCO) and the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N).
Spanish authorities hailed the effectiveness of the collaboration and highlighted the central role Morocco played in dismantling the trafficking network. The case underscores the importance of targeting the “Atlantic Route,” a major drug corridor linking South America and the Caribbean to Europe.
Morocco has been intensifying its crackdown on organized crime. Official figures indicate that Moroccan authorities foiled 92,346 drug-trafficking-related cases in recent years, leading to 119,692 arrests, including 287 foreign nationals.
The seizure of the Sky White marks yet another success in the region’s fight against international drug cartels and demonstrates how intelligence-sharing and maritime cooperation remain critical in addressing global narcotics trafficking.
