A cargo ship flying the Togo flag and coming from Latin America was intercepted off the Canary Islands on Tuesday with 4.5 tons of cocaine, Spanish police announced on Saturday, AFP reports.
According to the French news agency, citing the police, the “Orión V”, which transported cattle from Latin America to Middle Eastern countries, had been under strict surveillance for more than two years and had already been “checked and searched”. but no drugs had been found inside, despite the presence of “sufficient evidence”.
The AFP reports that an “air-sea” operation made it possible to discover the cocaine and that it was hidden in a silo to feed the cattle.
The operation, which involved the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the International Maritime Information Analysis Center (MAOC-N), the Togolese authorities and the Spanish police, led to the arrest of the 28 crew members, nine different nationalities.
The “Orión V” has the same dimensions as another Togolese cargo ship, intercepted in mid-January in the same area, 100 kilometers southeast of the Canary Islands, the “Blume”, in which the same amount of cocaine was found.
The close ties between Spain and South America, where cocaine comes from, make Spain one of the most important entry points for the drug in Europe.
Source: DN
