The Gibraltar Police then say that ‘a heated exchange’ then took place between the two security services, and during that time their boats came into contact.

Royal Gibraltar Police, RGP, has said, following the incident between the Spanish Guardia Civil and their own vessels in the waters off The Rock last Sunday, that they were exercising their jurisdiction ‘inside British Gibraltar Territorial Waters’, half a mile off the Punto Europa.
A statement from the RGP issued on Tuesday said ‘The Guardia Civil had been involved in the persecution of a suspicious boat outside the Gibraltar Territorial Waters, but then entered the waters to ‘intercept the suspicious vessel’. They note that they had no previous notification of the chase from the Guardia Civil.

The Gibraltar Police then say that ‘a heated exchange’ then took place between the two security services, and during that time their boats came into contact.

The statement ends that as is normal in this type of incident, the Police Commissioner will meet with his counterpart in Algeciras to debate the incident and ‘the need for each one to respect the jurisdiction of the other’.

The statement came after the Spanish Interior Minister, Alfredo Pérez Rubalcaba, expressed his upset at the latest incident which he described as ‘especially serious’. He said the Spanish Government is considering a diplomatic initiative to remind the Gibraltar authorities that one thing is a territorial dispute, but allowing the criminals operating in the Strait to benefit was quite another.

The Civil Guard Association had earlier accused the Gibraltar Police and the Royal Navy of acting ‘like pirates’ and allege the Gibraltar Police tried to board the Civil Guard boat.