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CRIME

Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain

A group of Colombian drug traffickers sank their submarine off the coast of Spain after they were spotted by customs officers, police said in a joint statement Tuesday.

Published: 27 June 2024 09:26 CEST
Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain
Colombian drug traffickers sink submarine with cargo off Spain. Photo: Handout / Spanish Guardia Civil Customers and Police Authority / AFP

Spain is one of the main entry points for drugs into Europe, due to its close links with Latin America and its proximity to Morocco.

On Sunday, customs officers spotted a vessel 280 nautical miles (500 kilometres) off the southern Spanish coast.

READ ALSO: Spanish police smash international drug-smuggling ring 

It was a 20-metre semi-submersible – a type of boat increasingly used by traffickers who are redoubling their creativity to find new ways of concealing drug shipments.

When customs officers approached, the crew “opened the valves on the bottom of the submarine, before surfacing to safety,” the statement said.

It added: “The semi-submersible was flooded within minutes, before sinking with its cargo to the bottom of the sea.”

The four Colombian crew members were rescued and then arrested.

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CRIME

Owner of Spanish restaurant in Mallorca where 4 died in terrace collapse arrested

Spanish police said Wednesday they have arrested, for manslaughter, the owner of a beachfront restaurant on the island of Mallorca where four people died when a terrace gave way.

Published: 27 June 2024 09:17 CEST
Owner of Spanish restaurant in Mallorca where 4 died in terrace collapse arrested

Two German tourists, a Senegalese man and a 23-year-old Spanish woman who worked at the venue in Palma de Mallorca, were killed when the recently renovated first-floor terrace collapsed on May 23rd. It fell onto the ground floor, which then plummeted into the basement. Another 14 people were injured.

The police homicide group has “arrested the owner of the company that operated the business over his alleged involvement in four cases of manslaughter and six cases of serious injury through gross negligence,” police said.

READ ALSO: Bar terrace in deadly Mallorca collapse was unlicenced

A police investigation found that during the refurbishment, a roof had been added to the terrace, which did not have a licence.

“The structure had not been reinforced for such use and as a result of the modifications had been overloaded with weight,” police said.

The weight of the roof and the 21 people on the terrace “caused the structure to collapse,” the statement said.

Police did not name the arrested man but media identified him as Austrian businessman Christian Arnsteiner who owns the company that operated the Medusa Beach Club in a seaside area of Palma that is popular with tourists.

The Balearic Islands are one of Spain’s top tourist attractions with more than 14 million foreign tourists last year, according to official figures.

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