Record 9-Tonne Cocaine Haul off Azores Spurs Calls for Stronger Maritime Patrols

A chill Atlantic wind now carries a very different cargo: the biggest seizure of cocaine Portugal has ever seen. An international task-force caught a semi-submersible 430 km off the Azores, pulled almost 9 tonnes of cocaine from its hold and placed four South-American crewmen behind bars. Authorities say the bust, code-named Operation Adamastor, resets the scale of maritime drug trafficking through Portuguese waters.

In brief – what Lisbon needs to know

• 9 tonnes of cocaine hauled from a narco-sub; street value tops €300 M

• Vessel intercepted 230 nautical miles west of Faial after a mid-Atlantic chase

• Polícia Judiciária, Navy, Air Force, MAOC-N, DEA and NCA worked in tandem

• Four crew members (3 Colombians, 1 Venezuelan) held in preventive custody in Ponta Delgada

• About 35 of 300 bales sank when rough seas scuttled the craft

• Record dwarfs previous Portuguese haul of 1.7 t (Nov 2025) and Spain’s historic 2019 narco-sub case (3 t)

Why the mid-Atlantic is suddenly a hotspot

Portugal’s vast exclusive economic zone and the mid-ocean outposts of the Azores make the country an unavoidable waypoint between Latin-American producers and European consumers. Intelligence analysts say traffickers gamble on Portugal because:

The archipelago offers sparse radar coverage compared with the busy Channel or Med.

Gulf Stream currents shorten the voyage for low-profile craft.

Continental distribution networks in Galicia and northern Portugal are well established.

“Whoever controls the Atlantic hinge controls the European market,” a senior Navy officer told reporters, pointing to a recent uptick in “ghost hulls” that run almost invisible just below the surface.

Chasing a ghost hull

The 12-metre vessel left an unnamed South-American river delta in December. Days later a U.S. JIATF-South aircraft spotted a suspicious heat signature. MAOC-N in Lisbon fused satellite and radar feeds, cueing the Portuguese frigate Corte-Real and an Air Force P-3C Orion. High swells forced the boarding team to cut the sub’s ballast lines; the craft started sinking as agents ferried 265 wrapped bales to the deck of a patrol boat. Night-vision footage released by PJ shows operatives ankle-deep in seawater, forming a human chain to salvage the evidence.

Record-breaking haul in context

The 9 t seizure obliterates Portugal’s previous record—1.7 t seized near Peniche barely two months earlier—and outstrips any single-load caught in Europe since 2019. For scale, the entire amount of cocaine confiscated on Portuguese soil in 2024 was just under 4 t. Drug-policy experts warn that traffickers have scaled up production and now risk larger, single shipments to satisfy growing demand in Germany, France and the UK.

Inside Operation Adamastor

Named after the mythical giant that haunts Cape of Good Hope legends, Adamastor brought together Portuguese special-forces divers, Navy marines and PJ narcotics investigators. Crucially, the United Kingdom’s National Crime Agency provided a covert tracking tag previously planted on the cocaine parcels in Colombia, while the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration shared real-time imagery. Lisbon officials say the case proves the Lisbon-based MAOC-N is now Europe’s nerve-centre for maritime narcotics intelligence.

Judicial next steps

A judge in Ponta Delgada has ordered the four detainees held in preventive custody while prosecutors assemble an indictment for aggravated drug trafficking, a crime that can carry a sentence of up to 25 years under Portuguese law. Investigators are chasing bank records and satellite phone logs to map the European end of the cartel’s supply chain. Court hearings will likely shift to mainland Portugal once additional suspects are identified.

What it means for Portugal – and your tax euros

The bust will not only fill evidence rooms; it will also strain budgets. Disposal, storage, forensic tests and prolonged trials routinely cost millions, expenses ultimately borne by taxpayers. Still, officials argue that removing tens of millions of street doses from circulation offsets those costs by cutting public-health harm. The Navy is meanwhile lobbying for two additional long-range drones and a second maritime patrol aircraft in next year’s defence bill, citing the Adamastor success as proof of concept.

Looking ahead

Analysts expect narco-subs to grow longer, quieter and possibly shift landfall toward the Canary Islands or Madeira as Portuguese surveillance tightens. For now, the record haul underscores a stark reality: the Atlantic drug highway runs right past Portugal’s front door, and keeping it shut will require technology, diplomacy and sustained political will.