It was the beach lifeguards who discovered it. Last Monday the 10th, on the Pescadores beach in Badalona, rescuers spotted a suspicious package floating a few miles from the coast. It was almost five in the afternoon and both the sand and the water were packed with bathers, alleviating the heat of this infernal August. It was later confirmed that the maritime workers' doubts were justified. It was a one kilo package of cocaine adrift that the Mossos d'Esquadra recovered.
It had been a long time since a package of cocaine had arrived on the Catalan coast. In fact, it is more common for the bales that appear stranded between rocks, or caught in fishermen's nets, to be hashish. But this package also had something particular, a message and an image.
Although it is known that criminal groups usually “mark” their merchandise to differentiate it, it is usually letters, initials, a number or even a photograph. On this occasion, the owners of the drug used an image of Jesus Christ extending one arm next to a book that must be the Bible accompanied by a phrase with letters in high box: "YOU WILL ALWAYS LIVE IN THE MEMORY OF YOUR FRIENDS, COMPADRE." A message to a third person, to a friend, to whom, in some way, the criminal organization paid its particular tribute.
The photograph of the package, which accompanies this information, was quickly shared among police groups. It became clear that a message of these characteristics was not common. In fact, a Mossos d'Esquadra official with quite a few stripes even raised the possibility that the package was intentionally thrown into the sea, as an offering to his deceased friend. It may seem crazy, but it would not be the first time that certain criminals are buried or accompanied at the funeral with elements that were characteristic during their passage through life: a firearm, beers and some drugs for the journey to the new stage.
The thesis of the tribute, which already had few followers, completely vanished two days later, when an identical package appeared, but on a beach in Tarragona. And there was still a third apparition, and not exactly divine, this Tuesday on a beach in Sitges. The same package again, with that same image of Jesus and one kilo and two hundred grams of cocaine.
On the three occasions, and practically until light permitted, the Mossos helicopter and a maritime police boat were inspecting the three areas of the beaches to find more packages. But without success. The last one located in Sitges was also recovered by a bather who handed it to a lifeguard, who opened the package to see what it contained and immediately handed it over to the Mossos.
Three packages of cocaine, from a disturbing same batch of drugs, in just three weeks and arriving on the Catalan coast at the mercy of marine currents and tides.
The police do not have any official count that adds up all those finds that periodically land on the coast. Its origin is disparate. It could be merchandise lost during a journey, or the crew itself has thrown it into the water for a thousand reasons, from feeling at risk to a mechanical problem. The other option, which is not so common on the Catalan coast, is to leave the merchandise anchored at specific points on the coast, waiting for the arrival of a second transport to pick it up; and that due to weather conditions or even the action of marine fauna or fishermen, the anchorage has broken and the merchandise floats, arriving sooner or later on the coast.
On August 3, it was an open water swimmer who stumbled upon a kilo and a half package of hashish off Castelldefels beach. The next day, the maritime police patrolled the area for the possible appearance of other bales, without success.
Two days later, the scene was l'Ametlla de Mar. A fisherman discovered a package protected with several turns of insulating tape on the rocks. The inscription RAPTOR was written on one of the backs. The man also handed the merchandise to a Mossos patrol, which inspected the area to see if there were more identical packages, but without success. On this occasion, the drug was also hashish.
On August 10, the sea returned the first package of cocaine in Badalona, and three days later, another identical one arrived many kilometers away, in Tarragona. The last of that consignment appeared on Tuesday in Sitges. Investigators suspect that the drugs must have been lost in transport between the Balearic Islands and the Catalan coast.
These findings have coincided with another, much more important one, which also appeared this August on the beaches of Cádiz and whose image this newspaper also had access to. It was a package protected with several turns of insulating tape containing 30 kilos of cocaine. A good stash. The bundle also had its own seal, a card from the poker deck: the red five of diamonds.
On these coasts of Andalusia and especially in the Gibraltar countryside, where the State is fighting a complex and tough battle against drug trafficking, the arrival of bales of hashish and cocaine is more common. During the drug boat chases, the crew does not hesitate to throw the material overboard if they believe they have the upper hand. Hence, even without being official, these seizures range between 400 and 500 kilos per year.
