AA / Madrid / Abduljabbar Aburas
Spanish police announced on Saturday the seizure of a livestock vessel off the Canary Islands carrying 4.5 tons of smuggled cocaine.
Police said they arrested all 28 crew members from nine countries.
Spanish daily El Pais reported that the seized cocaine had a market value of more than $150 million and was hidden among the 1,750 head of cattle.
The newspaper picked up a statement from the police which said that “International organizations are finding new ways to transport drugs from Latin America to Europe, this time using cattle, to make their inspection and seizure more difficult”.
The ship “Orion V” flying the flag of Togo, was coming from Colombia.
Police say the ship has been under surveillance since 2020 on suspicion of transporting “large quantities” of drugs around the world.
Police said the ship was carrying goods to countries including Libya, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Willemstad (the capital of the Netherlands Antilles), Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Macau, Kuwait and Qatar.
It is not the first time that the Spanish police have searched ships, but during their previous attempt, the searches yielded nothing.
A week earlier, the police carried out a similar operation, following which they seized 4.5 tons of cocaine on board a ship also flying the Togolese flag, but which was carrying coffee.
Spanish authorities have announced that they have launched a campaign targeting the “Atlantic cocaine route commonly used by South American traffickers and fishing vessels to transport cocaine to Europe and Asia”.
* Translated from Arabic by Mounir Bennour.
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