Stowaway Found With 100kg Of Cocaine In Freighter Anchor
A stowaway trafficking more than 100 kilogrammes of cocaine has been seized after he was found hiding in a freighter ship’s anchor compartment.
Spanish customs police found the bales of drugs sealed in four blue plastic bags with geolocator devices so they could be dumped overboard and collected later.
Customs video footage shows the bales of drugs hidden in the anchor compartment of the Greek-flagged ship heading to Turkey from Colombia.
The stowaway is believed to have climbed aboard the freighter up its mooring ropes as it left Colombia.
Customs officers are understood to have raided the boat while it was refuelling in the municipality of Algeciras, in the province of Cadiz, in Andalusia, in southern Spain.
Newsflash obtained a joint statement from the Spanish Ministry of the Interior and the Civil Guard, on Wednesday, 15th February.
The Spanish authorities said that the suspect “was hidden, along with four bales containing the narcotic substance, in the anchor compartment of a Greek-flagged cargo ship that was making a journey from Colombia to Turkey.”
They added: “He intended to carry out the ‘drop off’ technique since each of the bundles had a geolocation device attached to it so that they could be picked up by their recipients in Spanish waters.”
The operation was carried out as a coordinated effort between the Spanish Customs Office and the Tax Office, as well as the National Police.
The suspect was arrested with 99 packs of cocaine weighing 109 kilogrammes (240.3 lbs).
The Spanish authorities said that their investigations began “when, through international cooperation mechanisms, the agents received information from the Greek authorities, reporting the presence of a person on board a merchant ship bound for Algeciras […].”
The authorities explained: “Once the ship was intercepted and docked, a person was located in the anchor compartment and next to him, a total of 99 packages of cocaine divided into four bales, for which he was arrested as the alleged perpetrator of a crime against public health.
“The investigation determined that the man had accessed the ship by climbing the mooring ropes, when he was leaving Colombia, introducing the cocaine bales helped by several people whose identity is being investigated.”
The investigation is ongoing.