Eduardo González
The Government of Gibraltar yesterday accused Spain of “serious breach of sovereignty and jurisdiction” after a Spanish Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) patrol boat entered “British Gibraltar territorial waters” during a pursuit of a group of suspected tobacco smugglers. In its response, the Spanish government “categorically” rejected these accusations and claims of “alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar” and demanded “effective measures against smuggling”.
The incident began at around 5 a.m. Thursday morning after a small VAS inflatable boat lost power in rough seas near Eastern Beach while chasing a small vessel suspected of being involved in tobacco smuggling. The waves pushed the VAS vessel toward shore, where the two officers on board were surrounded by numerous individuals who threw rocks at them as they tried in vain to start the engine.
The two officers sustained injuries, but managed to refloat the boat and row out to sea. One of the agents had to undergo surgery for facial fractures and is currently in the Puerta del Mar hospital in Cadiz, while the other has a broken nose. A video circulating on social networks appears to show at least two shots fired during the incident, although it is unclear when they were fired and by whom. A police source told the Gibraltar Chronicle that they were “probably” warning shots fired by VAS officers.
As reported yesterday by the Gibraltar Government in a joint statement, the British governor in the colony, David Steel, and the chief minister, Fabian Picardo, met to study the report provided by the Royal Gibraltar Police and the Gibraltar Customs service in relation to the incident, while the Rock Executive is coordinating its response with senior officials of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the United Kingdom in London and the British ambassador to Spain, Hugh Elliott.
“While the facts of the incident remain under investigation, the incursion into Gibraltar’s British territorial waters, with Spanish officials landing on Gibraltarian territory at Eastern Beach, is clearly a serious breach of sovereignty and jurisdiction,” Picardo’s government said in a press release. “The Governments of Gibraltar and the United Kingdom consider that yesterday’s events will require careful assessment as to the nature and level of diplomatic response” and, as such, “UK officials will be contacting Spanish officials to seek explanations of this breach of Gibraltar’s sovereignty before making a final decision on the action to be taken,” it added.
“Similarly, should it be confirmed that Spanish officials fired their weapons in Gibraltar, such action would constitute a very serious breach of the law, as well as being reckless and dangerous, especially in an area of high civilian population density, given the proximity of a residential development,” he continued. Furthermore, “the illegal activity of a gang of individuals apparently engaged in unlawful acts in Gibraltar is unacceptable to the Government and represents an activity that the Government and law enforcement agencies of Gibraltar will not tolerate,” he added.
Foreign Ministry “categorically” rejects “British sovereignty”
For its part, the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs condemned yesterday in a statement “the aggression suffered by members of the Customs Surveillance Service intervening in an operation to combat smuggling in Spanish territory and waters near the Rock of Gibraltar, resulting in serious injuries”, and demanded “effective measures to combat smuggling that harms the whole area”, while wishing the Spanish agents their “speedy recovery”.
Also, the Government rejected “categorically” the terms of the joint statement issued “by representatives of the British Government in relation to the incident, as well as the claims about an alleged British sovereignty over the territory and waters of Gibraltar contained in it.” “This statement is particularly incomprehensible at a time when Spain has put on the table an agreement to create a zone of shared prosperity,” it added.
Both Spain and the UK claim that the waters surrounding the Rock are under their sovereignty. London considers that British sovereignty covers all Gibraltarian territory, including the “British territorial waters of Gibraltar”, and therefore denies that the waters surrounding the Rock are Spanish. For its part, Madrid has repeatedly asserted that, by the Treaty of Utrecht of 1713, Spain ceded only the waters of the port of Gibraltar, but not those surrounding the Rock, so it considers that these remain under Spanish sovereignty. This discrepancy has resulted in frequent incidents between vessels of the two countries and reciprocal notes of protest.
Picardo: “The most serious and dangerous incident in many years”
“The evidence surrounding this incident reveals a serious breach of British sovereignty and potentially the most serious and dangerous incident for many years,” Fabian Picardo said yesterday. “Before reacting we must, of course, be sure of the facts, but events indicate that the actions of Spanish officials are intolerable,” he continued. “Spanish law enforcement know that they can request and rely on the support of Gibraltarian law enforcement if they need to continue a pursuit in Gibraltar, but they appear not to have done so in this case,” he lamented.
“We will continue to work with our law enforcement to establish the facts and we will seek assistance from Spain in doing so,” Fabian Picardo assured. We will also “work together with the UK Government to determine the appropriate response to these dangerous actions and the flagrant violation of our British sovereignty by the presence of Spanish law enforcement officials in Gibraltar,” he added. In any case, he said, “while we continue to clarify the facts, yesterday (Thursday) I contacted my Spanish counterparts to inquire about the welfare of the Spanish officers in question”.
