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The Royal Gibraltar Police marine unit is a very busy section, mainly due to the close proximity of the neighbouring Spanish border and the fact that North Africa is just 18 km away across the Straits.

The situation is somewhat unique in that the bay to the west is home to one of the busiest ports in the world, and Gibraltar itself is busy with visiting cruise liners, as many as two or three a day. The container port at Algeciras, on the Spanish side, is the second largest in the world – only Rotterdam is larger. The shipping and boating traffic is hectic and the threat from smuggling is high. Added to this is the fact that Gibraltar is both tax- and VAT-free, making alcohol and tobacco products very cheap, meaning that there is a strong temptation to profit from the situation for local people, on top of the drugs and human trafficking from North Africa to mainland Europe.

The Gib marine unit has a remit to police the Gibraltarian waters out to their 3-mile limit. This extends along a 1.5-mile stretch from Europa Point to the Spanish border to the east, 3 miles south of Europa Point, and west for 1.5 miles to the Spanish border on the other side. Any illicit goods or people found within this area come under their immediate jurisdiction, and in addition they have a very good working relationship with the Spanish police force and will cooperate to protect the joint interests.

The work of the RGP is quite varied – unlike here at home they also have a fisheries protection role, or, as they put it, a role to enforce the Nature Protection Act. For instance, netting of any description is illegal in Gibraltar waters and they will keep their eyes open for anyone trying to net a shoal of fish. On top of their policing roles they are also a declared search and rescue facility, with the port authority as the coordinating agency. There is no lifeboat in Gibraltar, but there is in Algeciras; however, as the police are on the water most hours of the day, they are often the first to respond.

A further aspect of marine policing in Gibraltar is the fact that any RIB of over 6 m in length or any fast boat with a total aggregate horsepower exceeding 200 hp is an illegal import. There are no exceptions to this other than the police or military units, although it is possible to obtain a licence for such a boat, and visitors who make prior arrangements are welcome. Just don’t turn up unannounced! This rule also applies to the surrounding waters, and any such craft seen encroaching will be impounded. This often has a benefit to the people of Gibraltar as the seized boats can be refitted and put into service by the police marine unit. This is exactly how they came by the 10.5 m Madera RIB that I was privileged enough to experience.

The Madera was being delivered from the Dutch builders when the delivery crew found themselves being pursued by the Spanish authorities. She was running at high speed, at night, blacked out, and with just a hand-held chartplotter to navigate by. In the ensuing chase the couriers got it wrong and ran her up the beach, but on the Gibraltar side of the border, where they were apprehended. The boat was seized and, once the case had cleared the courts, was commandeered and refitted as a fast (very fast!) interceptor. There were some repairs to be done from the beaching on the rocks and these were carried out properly by the local firm of boat repairers, Sheppard’s. At the marine unit Andy Watson, the unit’s chief mechanic, replaced the original Yamaha V250 2-stroke motors with a triple rig of Mercury Verado 300 hp motors supplied by Barrus, who Andy says have been superb with their backup and support.

The boat is rigged with four batteries, one per engine and one purely for the ancillary equipment, with made-to-measure battery cables coupled through an auto power switch which senses the strongest battery and uses that one for the power steering. The engines are rigged to a racing layout with the two out motors having XL legs and handed 21” Revolution 4 props; the centre motor has a 23” three-bladed Laser. This rig set-up was advised by Lee, a former South African powerboat racer who works at Barrus and who used this set-up to good effect. It certainly works on the Madera. To control the motors there are two levers using the shadow control modules. The centre motor follows whichever lever is used. If used for manoeuvring, the centre motor remains in neutral, allowing the outer motors best efficiency for turning.

The fuel tank was already fitted, a 2,500-litre compartment along the centre line. The entire underdeck area is virtually all fuel tank. This gives the boat a range of about 600 miles and nothing is going to outrun these guys! Burying the levers, the boat, with four crew and fuel, has a top speed of just over 60 knots. The communications on the RIB are more basic than we would have here at home, but that is down to the fact that they are only operating close to home port. Raymarine were chosen for the electronics and a single fixed-station VHF is mounted on the dash; hand-helds are carried as backup. The police frequency radio is mounted in a seat pod and is convenient for use by either of the crew within reach. Navigation is done by a C120 Raymarine chartplotter and radar but no sonar. They haven’t bothered with a depth sounder because the water around Gibraltar is deep. Even though they only acquired this RIB at the end of 2010, she has already racked up over 400 hours of hard use without a single hiccup.

The officers explained to me that boats of this nature in this area only have one purpose – smuggling. With the increased unemployment in Spain, and on the Costa especially, where it is currently running at 35 per cent, the problem is getting worse as people try to take advantage of making a fast buck. It isn’t just boats that get used – people try to swim around the fence carrying polythene bags full of cigarettes and tobacco. Kayaks are used to try and sneak past with loads of tobacco in their hatches, and even beach toy inflatables have been tried. They even found one chap trying to use a radio-controlled model boat to bring cigarettes around the fence separating Gibraltar from Spain!

These are all small fry, though, in comparison to the big loads that are sent over from the plantations in North Africa. It is these major shipments that RIBs such as this Madera, or the 12 m Narwhale confiscated last year and now being rigged for more police work, are used for. These big RIBs with their powerful engines are used to ferry loads of 3 tonnes or more at a time across from Africa to Spain, but can encroach on Gibraltar waters. In any event, the Gibraltar and Spanish teams will often cooperate on joint operations against these smugglers. The lads showed me a picture taken from the Spanish police helicopter of a RIB that was running loaded with bales of hash. It is the prevention of these major shipments – both drugs and now, more often, human trafficking – that is their main aim.

It isn’t always cut and thrust, though. One story of a capture was a much quieter arrest. One of the crew is a very keen angler and he saw a brand-new boat and engine drifting close to the rocks with the occupants apparently fishing. As they were passing, the friendly angler in him asked them if they had caught anything yet. ‘Yes,’ they replied and showed him their catch box with some mullet in it. Of course, being an angler he knew they hadn’t caught them there with the tackle they were using, which was also brand new, and then he noticed their bait was still in its packets and everything was absolutely untouched. He suggested they come with him, and when the boat was searched by taking the deck off the hull, 690 kg of hash were found! The boat was seized and after the court case, where both occupants were given prison sentences, the brand-new boat and engine were given to the local Sea Scouts! They still have it, and so another baddy boat is being put to good use, just like the big RIBs.

Simon Everett