No. 156/96 Date 12 December 1996
The seizure of the motor vessel WHALE SAVER in the area of Seville with 5.3 tons of cannabis resin has given rise to yet another spate of propaganda against Gibraltar.
Canal Sur Television in the 3 o'clock news bulletin on 11 December 1996 has suggested that the vessel had been prepared for the transport of the drugs in a Gibraltar shipyard.
The Government of Gibraltar is extremely cognisant of its responsibility towards the fight against drugs trafficking and refuses to enter, for obvious tactical reasons, into any debate on this matter.
It cannot, however, remain completely silent and will limit itself to saying that extremely important and significant assistance has been given by Gibraltar and its law enforcement agencies in this particular case, as indeed in its first leg last year, which has made the capture of the WHALE SAVER by the Spanish authorities possible.