A high-speed boat chase near the Spanish port city of Cadiz left one alleged drug trafficker dead and four injured.
The crash occurred after Spain’s Guardia Civil, backed by a helicopter, began pursuing eight speed boats that entered the Guadalquivir river early on Sunday morning.
During the chase, one boat “loaded with drugs” managed to dock next to another that the crew then used to flee, the civil guard said in a statement.
Head-on crash ‘at full power’
The police continued to pursue the boat carrying the suspected traffickers, which then accelerated before crashing head-on “at full power” into the riverbank.
“The boat overturned, resulting in the death of one person, while four others were injured to varying degrees,” the statement said.
At least “47 bales of hashish” were left behind on the abandoned vessel and another 74 bales of hashish were recovered around the accident site, police said.
It is the latest in a series of recent confrontations on the water involving Spanish authorities.
The incident comes after the death of two police officers whose vessel was hit by a drug trafficker’s boat during another chase in the province of Cadiz, close to the port of Barbate, in February.
Main entry point for drugs
The region regularly sees drug seizures by Spanish customs agents and the civil guard, with Spain being among the main entry points of drugs into Europe.
There have also been recent clashes at sea between Spanish police patrols and migrant ships.
Last week, a Guardia Civil speedboat ran over a boat believed to be carrying migrants trying to reach the Spanish territory of Melilla in North Africa.
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Footage showed the police officers chasing the vessel and trying to block the path before slicing it in half, sending its passengers flying into the water.
Moroccan authorities said they were investigating the collision, which left one injured, but Spain’s interior ministry said it would not.
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