Customs Surveillance strengthens its European cooperation to detect narco-submarines and naval drones

The Spanish Tax Agency’s Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) will work alongside SafeSeaNet, the European Union’s (EU) platform for exchanging information on maritime security. The aim is to improve the detection of new threats at sea, such as naval drones, narco-submarines, and unmanned vessels.

This cooperation will allow for the secure sharing of information between European agencies with maritime responsibilities . The aim is to anticipate risks, improve target selection, and strengthen joint customs security and organized crime operations.

In addition, the collaboration between agencies will help detect drugs and tobacco hidden in refrigerated containers , identify digital manipulations in port documentation, and monitor the use of mother ships at sea.

MORE CONTROL OVER TOBACCO AND NEW PRODUCTS

Customs Surveillance will also focus part of its operations on controlling the supply of raw tobacco to combat the smuggling of this product. This raw material is used to make cigarettes and fine rolling tobacco , so the investigations will target the dismantling of clandestine factories and shredding centers.

The agency will also strengthen its oversight of new products such as electronic cigarettes, refill liquids, and heated tobacco . Since April 2025, these products have been treated the same as traditional tobacco, with a ban on flavors other than tobacco, and are subject to a special tax and the corresponding health warnings.

The Spanish Tax Agency plans to have “greater participation and cooperation at the international level” in actions against the smuggling and illicit manufacture of these new tobacco products, in line with European regulations.

In this context, Customs Surveillance will also participate in international actions led by European institutions against transnational networks dedicated to tobacco smuggling, as well as in investigations into smuggling and money laundering from this activity.

FOCUS ON THE GIBRALTAR FIELD

The Campo de Gibraltar (Cádiz) continues to be “a particularly complex environment” for combating organized crime, hashish and tobacco trafficking, smuggling, and money laundering. The area has also seen “increasing violence from these organizations, the use of high-speed inflatable and semi-rigid boats, and drones.”

Given this scenario, the Tax Agency will continue to apply specific measures in the area, this time coordinated with the new Special Security Plan for the Campo de Gibraltar against drug trafficking 2026-2029 promoted by the Ministry of the Interior.

MONEY LAUNDERING MONEY LAUNDERING SURVEILLANCE

Another priority of the 2026 Plan is the detection, investigation, and suppression of the smuggling of defense , dual-use, and other strategic materials. This measure responds to the increase in illicit trafficking detected in Europe in recent years, destined for countries affected by international sanctions.

Customs surveillance also includes neutralizing the economic and financial structures of criminal organizations. In this regard, the Tax Agency will target neobanks, companies that in some cases operate with a third party’s banking license , as part of the ‘Follow the Money’ strategy, in collaboration with Europol and the Executive Service of the Commission for the Prevention of Money Laundering and Monetary Offences (Sepblac).