Eight people have been arrested by the Guardia Civil following the recovery of a 3.5 million euro luxury yacht in Turkey. The vessel was stolen from the Port of Palma de Mallorca. One of the arrests took place in Torrevieja.

The yacht was stolen at the beginning of April with tracking devices indicating that it was first moved to the Port of Corinth (Greece) and later to the Port of Güllük (Turkey).

After informing the Turkish authorities that the stolen vessel could be found in its jurisdictional waters, the boat was seized and four people, who were all on board at the time, were arrested, three of Turkish origin and another of Russian nationality.

The detainees carried falsified documentation and had already changed the name, registration and flag of the boat.

Three further people were then arrested in Mallorca of Spanish, German and Portuguese nationalities, as well as the eighth in Torrevieja, who is understood to be Hungarian.

Investigators say that there is extensive damage to the interior of the boat, since part of the electrical and location systems had been ripped out valued at more than 20,000 euros.