The Diplomat
The Government of Gibraltar “condemns the incident that took place on Monday night, in which the Spanish Customs Surveillance Service (SVA) attempted to carry out an enforcement action in Gibraltarian waters”, according to a statement released yesterday.
The Rock’s authorities immediately reported the incident to the United Kingdom, which, according to the same communiqué, “has immediately confirmed that it will lodge a formal protest with Madrid given the seriousness of the problems caused by such illegal action”.
According to the Gibraltar authorities, the incident involved a Spanish Customs Surveillance Service vessel, the ‘Aguila 2’, whose agents it accuses of attempting “to carry out an enforcement action, within British waters, outside their internationally recognised jurisdiction“. The incident involved the pursuit of a Gibraltar-registered vessel, the ‘Ultimate Predator’, which was carrying out a “legitimate transfer of crew to a merchant vessel in Gibraltar waters”.ç
SVA sources assured that the action took place “in Spanish territorial waters” after a fibreglass vessel sailing without lights fled when stopped.
The Gibraltar government claims that the ‘Ultimate Predator’ is a port auxiliary vessel and that “Gibraltar Customs had already detected by radar that it was sailing without lights and without its Automatic Identification System (AIS) indicating its position”.
“The unfortunate failure of a vessel’s navigation lights and AIS system may rightly give rise to suspicion on the part of law enforcement agencies patrolling Gibraltar waters,” the statement adds. However, it states that “the Gibraltar Customs Service was dealing with the matter” and that “the intervention of a foreign law enforcement agency, without any communication or coordination with Gibraltar law enforcement, is unlawful and unacceptable”.
Sovereignty over the waters in which the incident took place is claimed by both Spain and the UK, which describes them as “British Gibraltar territorial waters”. Incidents of this kind are frequent and often lead to protests from the UK to Spain.
