I(t was at about 1am last Sunday that Alicante´s coastal radar system picked out a boat on the radar screen which caused them to have suspicions about it ,This new radar vigilance system(SIVE) has had some bad press but on this occasion it worked.The police noted its change of direction towards a Santa Pola beach and police there were alerted .They were also able to watch what was happening and surrounded the area.They watched as a group of people on the beach ,who had driven up with a van,gave signals to the crew of the boat.

These police viewed the moving of goods from the boat to the van and then they swooped in to make the arrests .However all of the people there managed to escape and the police were left with the boat,a van( which had been stolen from Barcelona in 2007) and 600 kilos of hashish.The local Guardia Civil are continuing their investigations of local suspects.