Royal Gibraltar Police (RGP) boat collided with a Guardia Civil vessel injuring a Spanish officer just off the Rock on Sunday during attempts by both forces to apprehend suspected drug dealers smuggling hashish across the Straits from Morocco.
After a four mile chase through international waters the Spanish patrol intercepted the smugglers boat off Gibraltar's southernmost tip, when the RGP vessel allegedly collided with the Spanish vessel.
The Unified Association of the Guardia Civil (AUGC) has made a formal complaint over the incident, claiming its officers were subjected to "serious insults, harassment and threats".
"The (British) Royal Navy and RGP acted like pirates as in other times in the past," said a statement from the police organisation.
A spokesman for the RGP confirmed that an incident had occurred in Gibraltar waters but declined to add any further detail.
"We are conducting inquiries and a full statement will be made on Tuesday," he told the local Gibraltar Chronicle.
It is the latest in a series of rows to have occurred over the thorny issue of territorial waters surrounding the tiny British colony.
Gibraltar was ceded to the British under the 1713 Treaty of Utrecht but Spain has never relinquished its claim of sovereignty and disputes Britain's jurisdiction of the waters that surround it.
In December 2009 Spain was forced to apologise after Spanish maritime officers strayed into British territory waters while in pursuit of smugglers.
That incident came only weeks after the Royal Navy was accused of using a Spanish flag for target practice during a military exercise in international waters off Gibraltar.
Britain's ambassador to Spain, Giles Paxman, was forced to explain that the target had in fact been a Nato flag bearing the same colours as the Spanish flag. But he apologised for the incident.
Earlier this month the issue of Gibraltar was raised by Spain's Crown Prince Felipe at an official dinner to welcome The Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall on their first tour of Spain together
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