Spain banned the construction of speedboats because of the traffic. The Galician mafia found a solution: they buy them in Portugal
The Judiciary Police suspects that in the North of the country the sale of speedboats linked to drug trafficking of the main clans of Galicia is being sold. A phenomenon that will be accentuated from 2018, when the Spanish government banned the construction of inflatable and semi-rigid motorboats over eight meters in length or engines above 204 horsepower as a measure to combat drug trafficking by sea. Since then, Spanish and Galician businessmen have guided many to appear in the organization charts for building companies in Minho. There are suspicions that, under the legal cover of the business in Portugal, they take the opportunity to equip the Galician drug trafficking networks with the speedboats of so much trade.
To Expresso, a source from PJárias assures that “in the same warehouse” “v suspicious companies” coexist, close to the border with Galicia. But without concrete evidence linking the traffic to the Portuguese authorities, their hands are tied. Several PJ researchers argue that Portugal should follow the Spanish example and ban these speedboats. The Ministry of Justice created a task force whose objective is a bill with similar outlines to the neighboring country. This plan is still at an embryonic stage, information that until the closing of this edition was not officially confirmed by the office of the new minister, Catarina Sarmento e Castro.
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