List Details Violations Across Several Locations

We're going to go all out against drug trafficking in Huelva": the 10 arrested for shooting at Civil Guard officers are also accused of piracy. The suspects could face sentences totaling up to 35 years in prison for crimes including assault, attempted homicide, drug trafficking, and, in a novel twist, piracy. The warning comes from a Civil Guard agent involved in operations against drug trafficking in the province of Huelva, which has become the epicenter of violent criminal activity by drug networks in recent days.

Within just 24 hours, hooded gunmen shot and killed two women and a minor on a street in the town of Isla Cristina in a settling of scores linked to family feuds between drug-trafficking clans. Subsequently, traffickers on a drug boat loaded with narcotics opened fire on a Civil Guard patrol boat pursuing them in Huelva waters. The weapons used in the Isla Cristina shooting have been located, and a large operation remains in place to find the killers, who fled on a motorcycle.

Meanwhile, the attack on the Civil Guard patrol boat at sea has been solved in record time, with the arrest of ten suspected drug traffickers who will be investigated by the National Court, as confirmed by EL MUNDO. These ten detainees could face sentences totaling between 25 and 35 years in prison, as they are accused of assault on an authority figure, attempted homicide, drug trafficking, and, in a novel development, piracy, according to case sources. The crime of piracy at sea is covered under Article 616 ter of the Penal Code, which punishes with ten to fifteen years anyone who, with "violence, intimidation, or deception, seizes, damages, or destroys an aircraft, ship, or other type of vessel or platform at sea, or attacks the people, cargo, or goods on board.

This is one of the first times that drug traffickers who shoot at authority figures have been charged with piracy. The aim is to activate all mechanisms to fight effectively against drug trafficking, following complaints from professional associations such as the AUGC about the lack of resources for officers. This Saturday, the group warned of the "maximum risk" faced by professionals working in the Maritime Service after the shots from the drug boat.

"The aggressiveness of drug traffickers will not stop us, but we need resources and personnel. We also remind that this effort must be recognized: we are the ones who work the most hours and earn the least, said an AUGC spokesperson, who noted that Civil Guard officers do not have the same shifts as the police and do not have the 35-hour workweek that the Armed Forces and other public sector workers enjoy. Civil Guard officers from the Huelva Command are making an "enormous personal effort, putting in more hours" than they should to combat drug trafficking, sources from the armed institute told this newspaper.

Experts in the fight against organized crime warn of the extreme violence with which drug traffickers are operating in the province of Huelva in recent incidents. In the attack on the Civil Guard patrol boat, they did not hesitate to open fire on officers to protect the hashish shipment they were carrying. In theory, the most violent clans are those that traffic cocaine, which is more valuable than hashish, but in Huelva they no longer distinguish between one type of narcotic substance and another.

As this newspaper has reported, the attack on the patrol boat occurred in the early hours of August 17-18, when the Civil Guard began pursuing a drug boat off the coast of Huelva. During the chase, the suspected drug traffickers made numerous "evasive and extremely dangerous maneuvers, putting the lives of the officers at serious risk. Faced with the attack with firearms, the guards fired several shots to repel the aggression.

Although the vessel managed to flee, its occupants were eventually located and arrested after a boarding operation from the institute's patrol boat. In addition to the ten arrests, officers seized two drug boats and 5,926 kilograms of hashish, dealing a significant blow to one of the criminal organizations operating in the south of the Peninsula, the Civil Guard said. One drug trafficker suffered non-serious injuries and was abandoned by his companions. He was arrested after being treated at a hospital in Puerto Real.