DRAMATIC video shows Costa del Sol drug smugglers trying to outrun the police in a high-speed sea chase ending on a popular tourist beach near Malaga.

Civil Guard officers used their speedboat ram the narco gang, forcing them to shore in Sabinillas where a chopper landed to head them off on land.

The same beach, south of Estepona, was packed with Brit holidaymakers when another boat loaded with drugs landed in broad daylight in July.

The Christmas Eve pursuit saw the smuggler boat pursued by the police at high speed while a helicopter hovered overhead.

Dramatic footage shows the boats both racing at high speed before the police vessel deliberately rams the narcos, forcing them to stop and limp back to shore.

The sea chase lasted for several miles before ending on the beach at Sabinillas.

Then as the police helicopter landed on the beach ahead of the boats, the smugglers tried to do a runner and threw stones at chasing cops.

A Spaniard and two Moroccans, all about 30 years of age, were caught and arrested.

A fourth man was detained as he sat at the wheel of a getaway car, police said.

The narco boat was believed to be on its way to Morocco to pick up a shipment of drugs.

Police have been stepping up drugs patrols in this area of the Costa del Sol coast.

On the earlier occasion in July, the drug runners were caught in the act by a plain clothes policeman who happened to be on the beach with his family.

The Costa has seen a rise in gang violence, gun executions and even bombings as cartels vie for control of the lucrative smuggling route through Algeciras.