A TOTAL of eight arrests have been made in Spain’s Cadiz province after two civil guards were killed on Friday night when their speedboat was deliberately rammed by a larger craft being piloted by a drug gang.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska announced the detentions on Saturday, in the wake of a tragedy that has left the local community and the Civil Guard in shock.
The gang were using a powerful 14-metre speedboat at the time of the incident, which took place in the port of Barbate, Cadiz. A total of six civil guards were in the targeted craft, which was only a small, six-metre vessel.
The victims were named as Miguel Angel Gomez Gonzalez, 39, and David Perez Carracedo, 43. They were killed when the large speedboat was deliberately piloted over the smaller Guardia Civil vessel.
Two more of the civil guards were left injured, one seriously, while the remaining two escaped unharmed.
Three of the detainees were reported to be the crew of the drug boat that was involved in the incident. All have Spanish nationality and were aged 21, 24 and 28, according to Spanish press reports.
They all have criminal records for drug trafficking and other related offences such as money laundering.
Two other detainees, aged 34 and 54, had travelled to Sotogrande to collect the boat crew. They also have criminal records for drug offences and smuggling.
“I deeply regret the deaths of the Civil Guard officers in the line of duty on the coast of Barbate,” wrote Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez on X (formerly Twitter). “I want to send a heartfelt embrace to their families and colleagues. And my best wishes for the recovery of the injured officers.”
The Costa del Sol is notorious for its drug activity, as hauls of narcotics are regularly brought to the shores by powerful speedboats from neighbouring Morocco.
Packages of hashish often wash up on the shore, along with discarded fuel cans dumped at sea by the criminal gangs.
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