Jul 21 - Government Offers Clarification After Arrest Of Two Spanish Nationals At Sea

Written by YGTV Team on 21 July 2014.

Following inaccurate reports in some sectors of the Spanish media, the Government says it wishes to clarify the circumstances of the arrest of two Spanish nationals on the 10th July and the subsequent confiscation of a vessel:

1. At 0955 hrs on 10 July 2014, two persons were arrested on suspicion of the offence of "Exporting Tobacco by Sea", which is contrary to Section 91A(1) of the Gibraltar Imports & Exports Act.

2. Spanish citizen Antonio Jesus Mellado González, resident in Manilva (Málaga), and a minor were the individuals involved.

3. These two persons had been observed on board the 5.9 meter motor vessel Sheila Uno (Spanish registration 7A-AL-2-3-12) off Western Beach where they had approached the close-by Spanish Breakwater and handed over two bags to persons standing there.

4. The two suspects were taken first to the Marine Base and then to New Mole House police station where the mother of the minor, from Algeciras, was contacted to be present at the questioning of her son.

5. Mellado gave a statement, the minor did not.

6. The two suspects were released on bail of £1,000 each to appear at New Mole House on 4 September.

7. The motor vessel was impounded for the mean time.

8. At no point were comments made to the suspects regarding the Guardia Civil or the Spanish legal system, nor did the officers tell the suspects that there had been a confusion in the identification of their boat. [Video and audio of the arrests are available which will demonstrate that this is not the case - and that therefore any contrary version of the facts is untrue.]. The RGP has an excellent working relationship with their Guardia Civil counterparts in Algeciras in relation to operational matters which do not involve unauthorised entry into BGTW.

9. While the documentation signed by the suspects was in English, the interviews were conducted in Spanish and all documentation explained in detail, as is the case in every instance in which a foreign national is arrested in Gibraltar.