A sailboat confiscated from drug trafficking as a solution so that everyone can participate in the Galician “seafaring tradition”

Pablo joins his fingers and brings them up to his lips before opening them and blowing a kiss into the air. That is his immediate response when asked about his thoughts, as a 55 year-old man, of his first sea crossing aboard the 'Laion' ship on September 10.

Pablo has brain damage, and that prevents him from walking, speaking fluently and controlling his movements precisely. The 13 meters long sailboat, with two masts and the capacity to sail around the world, is confiscated vessel from drug trafficking. Since 2002, when it was transferred by the state, it has been used so that people with disabilities like Pablo have the opportunity to navigate the Camariñas estuary from the port of Muxía, in Galicia.

Before being an alternative for people with disabilities to navigate, the 'Laión' was the tool that drug trafficker Manuel Fariña Dacuña used to move drug shipments from the American continent to Europe, which in the 80s and 90s had one of its main entrance doors through Galicia.

The sailboat's drug voyages ended in 1998 in the Azores, when it was intercepted by the Spanish Civil Guard led by the then judge of the National Court, Baltasar Garzón. During the nineties, Garzón led a judicial offensive against drug trafficking clans, especially in Galicia, with one of the most notorious judicial actions of that time, Operation Nécora, which resulted in prison sentences for 19 drug traffickers.

From moving cargo in the Atlantic to sailing along the estuary so that people with disabilities can take the helm

During the hour-long car trip that separates Santiago de Compostela (A Coruña, Galicia) from Muxía, Isabel, coordinator of leisure and strengthening of the associative fabric of COGAMI, the confederation of associations of people with disabilities at the regional level that manages the 'Laion', talks about the benefits that these activities represent for the entity's users: "It is assumed that they cannot do it, and there is nothing more empowering than saying 'Look! I am steering my ship'".

That was what Emily and Damián González, siblings aged 8 and 10,both with a motor disability, were able to do. Their mother, Jessica Carmona, says that the children returned delighted after the activity. “The captain gave them the opportunity to handle the boat a little by directing the helm, allowing them to navigate,” says Carmona, adding that, thanks to the activity, they were able to socialize with two other youngsters who took part of the trip through COGAMI.

Carmona admits that at first she was a bit scared, because her children had never been on a boat, but she reckons as well that it is part of a process: “We have to make sure that every day they can move forward towards achieving their independence and being able to fend for themselves in every way.”

For the maintenance of the boat, they have a group of volunteers with maritime experience who take care of the small, mandatory inspections and machine adjustments that it needs throughout the year, people of COCAMI explain. Currently, the sailboat activity is concentrated in the September, a month during which they meet the associations' demand for voyages.

Ramón Sestallo, director of Adisbismur, an association integrated in COGAMI that covers several regions of A Coruña, explains how they found out there was a ship that had been seized from drug trafficking: “An acquaintance told us that they had seized a ship and that it was anchored in Vilagarcía de Arousa, that it was very pretty, 13 meters long and with two masts,” and adds: “We went to ask Muros, and they told us that it depended on the National Court.”

After handling the relevant requests, Judge Baltasar Garzón agreed to hand over the ship “in guard and custody” to the association “Disabled People of the Muros Region”, when it was not called Adisbismur yet and COGAMI did not exist. That was on October 22, 1998. From that moment, and until 2002, Sestallo and González say, the ship was adapted and repaired.Its interior was damaged during the search for drug carried out by the authorities.

Since then, nearly 5,000 people have been able to enjoy the activities that COGAMI carries out aboard the ‘Laion’. Along with Pablo, whose “sea baptism” opened this article, Silvia, Susana, Ray and Lalo sailed off the coast, all of them with some kind of motor or nervous disability.

After the crossing, marked by the swell, the wind, and a scorching sun, captain Marcos Trillo smokes a cigarette on the bow while explaining some of the characteristics of the boat. “It is made to last a lifetime and to be able to sail around the world”, he says. He also highlights the finesse of its manufacture, undertaken in the Wauquiez French shipyards. The model is called “Amphitrite”, one of the most luxurious of its time, says Trillo. The ‘Laion’ dates from 1975, and only 138 were built.

It remains an emblem of the luxury of its time. Its interior is completely restored and keeps many of the compartments and double bottoms that were used in the past to hide drugs. The uniqueness of the boat nowadays, on the other hand, is the adapted crane that allows people like Ray, Lalo and Pedro to leave their wheelchairs in the dock until they are back from sailing.

The ‘Laion’, an exceptional case within the current system of seizure and confiscation

Many aspects of this transfermake it a rara avis among the current panorama of the seized or confiscated goods from drug trafficking in Spain, since it does not fit in the current requirements that must be met to proceed with the delivery of an asset to an entity or institution. That’s because it was given before the Confiscated Assets Fund came into operation.

Maldita.es has obtained, through the public transparency system, data of the destination and use of those assets that have not been integrated nor auctioned by the Fund between the 2018 and 2024, which add up to a total of 4,860. Out of these, 163 assets have been delivered directly, compared to 531 that have been assigned to institutions or the State’s security corps and forces. Ten were not integrable into the Fund, one was rated, and the 4,154 remaining were abandoned. It should be noted that abandonment is not a symptom of institutional neglect, but the result, in many cases, of the delay of judicial processes until there is a final decision is the deterioration of the assets that happens meanwhile, as clarified by the Confiscated Assets Fund to Maldita.es.

The ‘Laion’ case  is not reflected on these data, both due to the moment it happened and the mechanism that allowed the transfer. The National Court ordered the transfer directly to guard and custody without determining a specific duration of it, which is why activities linked to the boat have been kept on constantly since 2002, except during the pandemic.

Furthermore, Isabel González, coordinator of COGAMI, points out that the absence of  a time limit contributes to the improvement of the activity: "You do not invest equally in improving the boat and keeping it in perfect condition if you know that after five years you may no longer be able to use it."

Nowadays, Fund's transfers are limited to time periods stipulated in the transfer contracts, which can be extended. And in any case, data provided by the PNSD to Madita.es reflects that the transfer to social entities, such as NGOs, has only happened twice in 4,858 possible cases between 2018 and 2024. Both took place in the province of Huelva and consisted of “an object” and “a vehicle”.Available data does not have the level of detail to specify what kind of object or car they were. The rest of transfers, have been mostly made to municipal councils and to State’s Security Forces and Corps and autonomous police forces.

The Government delegate for the National Plan on Drugs, Joan R. Villabí, defends the Fund's policy in a telephone conversation with Maldita.es: "When we monetize, the money... to whom does it go? Well, to the Homeland Security, to Customs, to us… and the money that we have goes to autonomous communities to carry out prevention programmes, to town councils and to NGOs or research groups that work in the same field.”

The Fund’s reports agree with Villalbí, but some entities, such as the Galician Foundation Against Drug Trafficking, remark that some things could change to fine-tune both the mechanisms of the PNSD and the judicial agility to adapt them to the current situation and avoid the deterioration of the assets until they reach the Fund: “Let’s transfer [the assets] temporarily, so that  they provide a greater benefit for society. If you manage to get a social organization to be benefitted from it, and when I say a car I can mean a boat or  any given asset within the large stock of properties we have enlisted”.

In addition, other limitations that the assets requested for transfer have is that they must fulfill a function in prevention or rehabilitation activities for people with drug addictions. Maldita.es has detected that this requirement may be a problem in the only case of transfer of a property in Spain, which is located in the municipality of Pedreguer (Alicante). The town mayor explained to Maldita.es that the reuse of the property, limited to these functions, means that the full potential of the house cannot be exploited and prevents civil society from being able to enjoy it, for example, as the headquarters of the association of the social services association of the region.

Limitations are also perceived in the way in which the Fund distributes the aid, being impossible due to the requirements imposed for many small municipalities or local associations. This is because the requirements to ask for economic aid from the Fund, derived from what it receives in the auctions, require that the municipalities have more than 100,000 inhabitants or are provincial capitals and, in the case of associations, that they are of an autonomous or national nature.

This excludes, for example, a large number of associations that are part of  the Coordinadora Alternativas, an antidrug association located in Campo de Gibraltar (Cádiz), where drug trafficking has one of its epicenters. Alternativas has protested and requested several times the reform of these requirements. Alonso does not downplay everything the Fund does, but he urges us to act and show society that the results of crime can be taken from criminals and actively put at the service of local communities so that drug trafficking is not seen as a lucrative alternative . To this end, he agrees with the Coordinadora Alternativas that the aid awarding mechanisms and criteria must be more flexible and advocates for a confiscation and seizure process that prioritizes the transfer of goods as a higher priority: “Many things are done, but it is not enough.”

Jessica Carmona, the mother of Emily and Damián, knows the criminal record of the 'Laion' and after her children have had a very good experience on board of the sailboat, her opinion is clear: “I think it is excellent that some kind of good, whether it is furniture or real estate, that has been destined for some illicit activity, is managed  to reach people, entities, organizations... It can be used in the best way and not left abandoned. These goods can be reused in a beneficial way, giving them a second chance.”

From crime to community: the social reuse of confiscated assets in Italy, Spain and Romania

This report is part of a cross-border investigation carried out by Lavialibera (Italy), Scena9 (Romania) y Maldita.es (Spain). This project explores the social reuse of confiscated assets in the three countries highlighting its impact, challenges and possible solutions.

We have analyzed, in four features, the shared problem of the lack of solutions to throw back to society the confiscated assets related to drug trafficking in Spain, Romania and Italy. We also and we talk Hemos analizado en profundidad, en cuatro reportajes, el problema compartido de la falta de soluciones para revertir a la sociedad los bienes decomisados al narcotráfico en España, Italia y Rumanía. We also focus on the situation in Spain and speak to associations that manage drug trafficking-assets and their impact on local communities.

This investigation has been developed with the support of Journalismfund Europe.

You can read the rest of the investigation here

From crime to community: the social reuse of confiscated assets in Italy, Spain and Romania

Bureaucratic maze deteriorates confiscated assets from drug trafficking in Spain and hinders new social uses

El Campell: the former mansion of drug dealer Franky seeks now new lives for social use

Primera fecha de publicación de este artículo: 04/10/2024