MADRID: Civil Guard police in northwestern Spain on Tuesday refloated a homemade semi-submersible vessel they suspect may have been used to transport cocaine.
The 16-meter (52-foot) fiberglass vessel was spotted Monday sunk a kilometer (a half-mile) off the coast in the Arousa estuary. It will be towed to a nearby port where police will investigate its contents.
Police said it was too early to say whether it had been used to transport cocaine or where it came from.
A similar vessel with three metric tons of cocaine on board was found in another northern Spanish estuary in 2019. In 2021, Spanish police seized a homemade narco-semisubmersible able to carry up to two metric tons (2.2 tons) of cargo while it was being built in Malaga, on southern Spain’s Costa del Sol.
Similar drug-smuggling crafts have been discovered in the Atlantic Ocean, especially off Central and South America. They aren’t so common in Europe. The vessels lie low in the water to escape detection and rarely are able to fully submerge.
Spanish police refloat homemade drug semi-submersible
https://arab.news/w7v9p
Spanish police refloat homemade drug semi-submersible
- The 16-meter fiberglass vessel was spotted Monday sunk a kilometer off the coast in the Arousa estuary
- Police said it was too early to say whether it had been used to transport cocaine or where it came from
Severe floods in southeast Brazil kill at least 25 and force hundreds to evacuate
- Minas Gerais’ fire department says it is searching for 43 people who went missing since late Monday
- Officials have warned residents to stay away from areas that could be prone to mudslides
JUIZ DE FOR A, Brazil: Severe floods in southeastern Brazil have killed at least 25 people and left dozens missing in the state of Minas Gerais, officials said Tuesday. Meteorologists warned more rain is expected in the region in the next few days.
The torrential rains began Monday in the cities of Juiz de Fora and Uba, about 310 kilometers (192 miles) north of Rio de Janeiro, forcing about 440 residents to evacuate their homes.
Minas Gerais’ fire department says it is searching for 43 people who went missing since late Monday. A video shared by the department showed flooded streets in Juiz de Fora and Uba, where a river veered off its course.
Officials have warned residents to stay away from areas that could be prone to mudslides.
Juiz de Fora is a city of 560,000 residents, while neighboring Uba has 107,000, according to Brazil’s statistics agency.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said on his social media channels that security forces are working on the rescue and providing immediate assistance to the population affected by the rain.
Brazil’s meteorology institute Inmet said in a statement that more rain is forecast for the region, which lies close to hills, valleys and slopes.
Juiz de Fora City Hall said in a statement the city experienced double the rain expected for February. Mayor Margarida Salomão said earlier at least 20 landslides were reported.
Firefighter Demetrius Bastos Goulart, 47, said rescue efforts will be slow and lengthy. “It is a high volume (of mud) in the landslides, we have to work with a lot of precision to avoid any damage to potential victims,” Goulard told The Associated Press.
