2500 kilos of cocaine seized

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Noticias:

2,500 kilos of cocaine seized from the Caribbean bound for the Canary Islands.

The Special Operations Ship 'Fulmar' of Customs Surveillance had to navigate between strong winds and waves in search of the boat.

The National Police has marked a new goal in the fight against drug trafficking. On this occasion, in a joint operation with Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, in which they have intervened on December 5 a sailboat from the Caribbean that transported about 2,500 kilos of cocaine bound for the area of the Canary Islands, and has proceeded to the arrest of its four crew members, who are in pre-trial detention awaiting trial.

 

The boarding of the sailboat was carried out by the Special Operations Ship of Customs Surveillance 'Fulmar', which departing from Cádiz on November 28 sailed westward between storms in search of the boat, which was finally located in an area of low pressure, with important winds and waves that considerably hindered the assault and boarding.

 

The Customs Surveillance officials members of the prey crew of the 'Fulmar' warned from the outset that the sailboat was transporting narcotics, given that a large number of the bales that are usually used for the transport of cocaine were seen from the outside of the sailboat.

 

After boarding, the four crew members of the boat were arrested; three men, two of Colombian nationality and one of French nationality, and one woman also Colombian. After securing the boat, the towing of the sailboat began until its arrival at the port of Las Palmas.

 

This operation is the result of customs and Police coordination, which, through the exchange and analysis of the information obtained in their respective areas, in this case by the Regional Area of Customs Surveillance in the Canary Islands and Greco Galicia of the National Police, allowed to detect at the beginning of summer the sailboat 'Mambo' in the Canary Islands.

 
The navigations, stays and behaviors of the crew of the sailboat indicated that they could be recognizing the geographical area and the marinas of the islands for a future operation of introduction of narcotic substances, in this case cocaine, as a posteriori has been verified.

link to article for video


 

[Joy Division]

I’ve never understood why there are drugs mules bringing cocaine into the canaries via the mainland when there are clearly tonnes of it coming directly from South America by boat. 
The fight against it is futile anyway. For every shipment they intercept you can be sure there are many more that go undetected.
Cocaine is now the scourge of Society and the demand seems to be feverish. 

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Noticias:

Up to 10,300 kilos of coca captured next to the Canary Islands in just a month and a half.

The three recent intercepted 'supercaches' were found between a sailboat, a merchant and a fishing boat.

In recent weeks, the seizure of large caches of cocaine in waters near the archipelago has increased exponentially. The international market for this substance would have returned to pre-pandemic levels when there was a decrease in the consumption of illicit substances intended for nightlife activities.

 

In this sense, the Canarian route "has always been particularly active, but no one escapes the fact that the seizure of approximately 10,300 kilos of cocaine in just a month and a half through the waters of the Canary Islands is new proof that the so-called Atlantic route of international drug trafficking is more alive than ever, and, for this, all kinds of boats are used in the eagerness of the mafias to bring these narcotic substances from South America to Europe, "explains Tinerfe Fumero in Diario de Avisos.

 

Such a striking amount of drugs is the result of three remarkable services rendered to society by the State security forces and bodies, and, in all three cases, their success was to prevent ships crossing the Atlantic with such illegal merchandise from landing it or transshipment to other smaller vessels. as they usually do to avoid being detected as much as possible.

 

If at the end of last month it was learned of a fishing boat that was approached by agents in waters near Tenerife with approximately 3,300 kilos of cocaine inside, a week ago it was reported that a merchant ship with a Togolese flag and named Blume was hiding, under the excuse of a shipment of coffee too meager for so many boats, up to 4,500 kilos more of the aforementioned drug (the second largest cache of coca so far this century in these parts).

 

Interestingly, yesterday was when it was reported that both services had a history dated at the beginning of last month, with the boarding of a sailboat called Mambo with another 2,500 kilos. This case has an aggravating factor from the island perspective, since the information that led to his capture reveals that last summer he roamed the coast of the Canary Islands in search of a possible landing point, as well as several marinas with the same interest.

 
To get an idea of what those 10,300 kilos of cocaine that will not reach the streets mean, a simple calculation is enough. If you multiply it by 60 euros (standard street price per gram), the resulting amount is no less than 618 million euros, but in reality it is much more, because this drug is mixed with other substances as it goes down the scale of traffickers, so that, only in the more than unlikely case that someone can buy a gram of cocaine with 50% of its purity (always is lower in Spain, let alone in other European countries that do not serve as input to it), the amount rises to almost 1,240 million. If we add to this the tremendous social expenses generated by addictions, the enormous relevance of these seizures becomes clearer.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Noticias:

Intercepted a cattle transport ship that would bring 4,000 kilos of cocaine.

It would be the fourth "super" stash in less than 20 days and the quantities seized are around 15,000 kilos.

The National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service have intercepted in the Canary Islands a cattle transport ship that they suspect is transporting a cache of around 4,000 kilos of cocaine.

The National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service have intercepted in the Canary Islands a cattle transport ship that they suspect is transporting a cache of around 4,000 kilos of cocaine.

 

According to EFE sources of the investigation, the operation has been carried out by units embarked on board the Customs Surveillance ship "Fulmar", the same one that boarded and transferred last week to Santa Cruz de Tenerife another merchant with the flag of Togo loaded with 4,500 kilos of cocaine.

In this case, the cattle boat in which the cache is suspected to go, also flying the flag of Togo, has been taken to the outer docks of the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.

 

The sources have specified that the intercepted ship comes from Colombia and was heading to the Middle East. According to the declared route that appears on the navigation tracking platform Vesselfinder.com, it had departed on January 2 from the port of Cartagena de Indias and planned to stop in Ceuta.

 

If the quantities investigators believe he has on board are confirmed, Spanish security forces will have withdrawn more than eight tons of cocaine being shipped to Europe via the Atlantic route from the market in just one week. To that amount, another cache of 2,500 kilos of cocaine captured by the Police and Customs Surveillance on December 5 on a sailboat heading to the Canary Islands is added.

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Radio Sintonia:

Arrested 28 crew of a freighter with 4500kg of cocaine from Colombia.

The Tax Agency, within the framework of a joint operation with the National Police, has intervened 62 miles southwest of the Canary Islands the freighter 'Orion V' when it was carrying 4,500 kilos of cocaine.

 

Detention of 28 crew members

After the interception of the ship by the Special Operations Ship 'Fulmar' of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, its 28 crew members, of nine different nationalities, have been arrested.

The freighter, with the same Togolese flag and similar dimensions as the 'Blume' boarded in the middle of this month also in waters near the Canary Islands, transported cattle from
Colombia to the Middle East.

Joint operation

The US DEA, the Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC-N) and the Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), as well as the Togolese authorities, have collaborated in the operation.

The operation began as a result of investigations carried out jointly by the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service, which determined the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of illicit drug trafficking from South America.

A suspicious vessel since 2020

Since 2020, the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service were tracking the vessel 'Orion V' (ex 'Spiridon'), suspected of being used to transport significant quantities of drugs. The drug was loaded in port or transferred on the high seas.

This vessel was already analyzed in the framework of an investigation carried out by the Central Narcotics Brigade and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in which the 'Santorum' brothers, responsible for the reception and introduction of significant quantities of cocaine, were arrested, among others.

Despite having been subjected to control and registration on that occasion, no drugs could be located inside, although there was sufficient evidence to confirm that it was a boat that transported narcotics with the excuse of transporting cattle – to places such as Libya, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Curaçao, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Macau, Kuwait and Qatar – offering products from
treated and handled cattle under conditions suitable for international trade
.

Detention of the vessel

Finally, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance established a naval air device that allowed the ship 'Fulmar' to locate and board the freighter on the afternoon of January 24. After inspecting the common areas of the merchant, the presence of an undetermined number
of bales usually used for cocaine trafficking was detected in a feed silo. For this reason, the 28 crew members of the boat were arrested: ten Tanzanian citizens, five Syrians, four Kenyans, two Ecuadorians, two Panamanians, two Colombians, a Dominican, a Nepalese and a Nicaraguan, as well as the seizure of the ship for transfer to the port of Las Palmas. The operation has been directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office of the National Court.

Both the detainees, the boat, the drugs and the Police proceedings will be made available to the Central Court of Instruction acting as Guard of the National Court.

Nine tons of cocaine in the span of a week

This operation is one more of those carried out in the fight against drug trafficking in the so-called 'Atlantic Route' of cocaine used by merchants and fishing vessels who, coming from South America, transship narcotic substances in the middle of the Atlantic for their subsequent introduction into the European continent.
In this case, it so happens that the interception of the 'Orion V' has been carried out just six days after the one carried out on January 18, when the freighter 'Blume' was intervened, of very similar characteristics – both with about 100 meters in length – and 4,500 kilos of cocaine on board, so that together they add up to nine
tons of drugs seized in this short period of time.

[Joy Division]

Call me cynical but Imagine the temptation when discovering such massive amounts of drugs, not to stuff a couple of kilos down your trousers. No one’s really going to miss it after all and there’s bound to be a few rotten apples amongst the kosher enforcement. Then again perhaps, I’ve been watching too much Line of Duty 😂

[TamaraEnLaPlaya]

Personally, having seen first hand the devastation that drugs cause, I can't imagine being tempted to appropriate some of the contraband. I could be tempted to mete out my own brand of punishment to the drug carriers, but that would then make me no better than the ones I want to punish.

I have to believe that our official law enforcers are above temptation, bribery etc. I know that statistically there are bound to be a few bad apples, but if I didn't believe that the majority were true to their sworn allegiances I'd give up all hope for civilisation.

Perhaps only 1 in 10 shipment is seized, perhaps it's 8 in 10, there is no way of knowing, but with today's international co-operation and sophisticated surveillance techniques I hope that sooner rather than later the whole drug thing grinds to a halt.

This thread has moved off topic a bit - lets go back to factual reporting of interventions and celebrate each success.