In the early hours of Wednesday 8th February, Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) of the Gibraltar Port Authority informed HM Customs of a vessel calling at Gibraltar that was at the time taking bunkers in the bay not far from the North Mole within BGTW. The vessel in question was the bulk carrier ‘BBG Journey,’ sailing under the flag of Hong Kong.

A local company was undertaking a routine hull inspection at the said vessel’s request. The divers had noticed various abnormalities by the sea chest, namely some ropes that protruded through the cover grill. HM Customs immediately responded by deploying HMC Sentinel to the location and officers boarded the diving vessel in order to investigate the sightings reported. On further inspection, it was confirmed that six large packages were stashed within the sea chest compartment of the vessel. Officers requested the divers to remove and retrieve the said packages, which were then transferred onto the diving vessel and subsequently to HM Customs Marine Base for processing and examination by the Royal Gibraltar Police Crime Scene Investigation Unit. The packages were opened and found to contain a total of 172kg of cocaine.

After extensively interviewing all crew members and conducting further searchers, the vessel was released. Notwithstanding, investigations continue. Although there are no reasons to suspect that the drugs were destined to Gibraltar, this detection has prevented a substantial amount of illegal drugs from ending up at its intended destination and has no doubt served a considerable economic blow to the drugs traffickers behind it, depriving them of the proceeds of this criminal activity.

The Collector of Customs would like to thank the Gibraltar Port Authority and the Royal Gibraltar Police for their assistance. He would also like to commend his own officers for their hard work and professionalism and congratulate them on a job well done.