More than 4,500 kilos of cocaine seized from a Togolese-flagged cargo ship

Spanish National Police officers, in a joint operation with the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, intercepted a cargo ship, the “Orion V”, 62 miles southwest of the Canary Islands while it was carrying more than 4,500 kilos of cocaine.

After the interception of the cargo ship by the vessel “Fulmar” of the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, the 28 crew members, of nine different nationalities, were arrested. The Togolese-flagged cargo ship, similar in size to the “Blume”, which was also arrested in the middle of the month in the waters near the Canary Islands, was transporting livestock from Colombia to the Middle East.

The U.S. DEA, the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre (MAOC-N) and the Intelligence Center against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), as well as Togolese authorities, collaborated in this operation.

The investigation was initiated following joint investigations by the national police and the customs surveillance service, which identified the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of trafficking illegal drugs from South America.

Since 2020, the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service had been monitoring this vessel ORION V (ex SPIRIDON), suspected of being used to transport large quantities of drugs. The drugs were either loaded in port or transferred to the same vessels on the high seas.

This vessel had already been analyzed in an investigation conducted by the Central Narcotics Brigade and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency, during which were arrested, among others, the “Santorum” brothers, responsible for the receipt and introduction of large quantities of cocaine. Although it was subjected to a control and search on this occasion, no drugs were found inside, although there is sufficient evidence to confirm that it was a vessel that transported drugs under the pretext of transporting livestock to countries such as Libya, Angola, Saudi Arabia, Curacao, Egypt, Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Macau, Kuwait and Qatar, offering livestock products treated and handled under conditions suitable for international trade.

Finally, the National Police and Customs (DAVA) set up an aerial device that allowed the vessel “Fulmar” to locate and board the cargo ship in the afternoon of January 24.

After inspecting the common areas of the merchant vessel, the presence of an undetermined number of bullets of the type normally used for cocaine trafficking was detected in a feed silo. For this reason, the 28 crew members of the vessel were arrested: ten Tanzanian nationals, five Syrians, four Kenyans, two Ecuadorians, two Panamanians, two Colombians, one Dominican, one Nepalese and one Nicaraguan, and the vessel was seized to be transferred to the port of Las Palmas. The operation was directed and coordinated by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office of the Audiencia Nacional. The detainees, as well as the vessel, the drugs and the police procedures will be handed over to the Central Investigation Court of the Audiencia Nacional.