Police in the Algarve have arrested another six people after catching them transferring fuel to a high-speed boat near Castelo beach in Albufeira, seizing roughly 200 jerry cans in the process. The arrests happened in the early hours of a Sunday following routine coastal patrols, and the Guarda Nacional Republicana's coastal unit says the pattern has become almost a daily occurrence along this stretch of coast.
According to Jornal de Notícias, nine people were detained in total — Spanish, Moroccan and Romanian nationals aged between 16 and 46, including two teenagers of 16 and 17. Police also seized a passenger car and a goods vehicle. A GNR source confirmed six arrests and the fuel haul, with full details on those detained still to come.
This wasn't a one-off. Within the same week, the Maritime Police found two boats, two engines and five fuel cans hidden in vegetation at Alvor, while the GNR stopped 14 people on Alvor beach during an alleged fuel transfer and impounded a van carrying 137 jerry cans. A day later, a vessel holding 2,600 litres of fuel in 133 cans plus food supplies was seized on the Ria Formosa near Fuseta in Olhão municipality.
All of it, police say, points to the logistics side of maritime drug trafficking: gangs use quiet beaches and estuaries to refuel fast boats that run hash and other cargo up from Morocco. The fuel caches and night-time transfers are the supply chain, and the Algarve's easily accessible shoreline — the same sand holidaymakers use by day — is being exploited after dark.
For travellers, the practical picture is still reassuring. These operations target smugglers, not tourists, and they're happening in the small hours on unlit stretches of coast, not on resort beaches at midday. But if you're staying near Castelo, Alvor or the Ria Formosa and notice unusual vehicle activity or people moving jerry cans at night, it's worth reporting rather than investigating — police are actively patrolling and clearly responsive. The wider issue is one for Portuguese authorities: the Resident notes that most arrests end in release, and resources are stretched thin, so the activity is expected to continue. Visit the beaches as normal by day, just keep some situational awareness after midnight.
