The Judiciary Police joined a major international operation against drug trafficking by sea along the eastern Atlantic corridor between the Azores and the Canary Islands. The route, which crosses the seas of Madeira, is increasingly used by criminal organisations to move cocaine from Latin America to Europe. The operation, called ‘ALPHA LIMA’, ran from the 13th to the 26th of April and led to the seizure of 11 tons of cocaine and 8.5 tons of hashish. Authorities also arrested 54 people and intercepted eight suspicious vessels during the coordinated action. According to the Judiciary Police, the investigation focused on international criminal networks that use the Atlantic Ocean for drug transshipment in order to avoid major European ports and standard detection methods. In Portugal, the PJ’s National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking seized 2,196 kilos of cocaine with support from the Maritime Police, the Portuguese Air Force, and the National Republican Guard. Europol says the waters between the Azores and the Canary Islands are now regarded as one of the Atlantic’s main drug-trafficking routes, known by authorities as the ‘Cocaine Route’, and the operation also recalled the seizure of more than seven tons of cocaine on the 21st of November 2025, part of which was unloaded in Madeira.
