A joint operation carried out between the Civil Guard, the National Police and the Tax Agency has allowed the intervention of a stash of 2,055 kilos of cocaine that was hidden in the ballast tank of a merchant ship recently moored in the Port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife . The characteristics of the vessel (a ro-ro for rolled cargo, such as trucks) and the concealment method have made it necessary to carry out an exhaustive inspection of the vessel for more than 15 hours to detect the drugs, as reported this Thursday by the Civil Guard and the National Police in separate statements. The action took place on December 18 and resulted in the seizure of cocaine and the arrest of six people, of which five were crew members of the ship.
The operation began at 9 in the morning, coinciding with the ship's arrival at the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Great France, a 214-meter-long Italian-flagged vessel that transports ro-ro cargo. The merchant came from Rio de Janeiro and was carrying out one of the hot routess for drug trafficking, with the next destination in the French port of Marseille, the note details. In August, the Civil Guard and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency found in the Puerto de la Luz and Las Palmas 182 bales with 198.35 kilograms of cocaine hidden in the refrigeration systems of a ship that also came from the Brazilian capital. The bales were located in the submerged part of the hull. This drug trafficking system is known in police jargon as parasite techniques.
Upon the ship's arrival in Tenerife, a joint team made up of agents from the Civil Guard and the National Police and officials from the Tax Agency proceeded to carry out one of the so-called anchoring visits, with several relays over more than 15 hours in which all the ship's facilities were inspected. The security forces explain that during the inspection a ballast tank from the merchant ship caught the attention of the detection team. Once the tank was opened, a large number of burlap packages of those usually used by drug trafficking organizations to transport drugs were found inside.
Inside the tank, a total of 69 bales were found that yielded a total gross weight of 2,055 kilos of cocaine. Along with the bales of drugs, various material was found, such as life jackets, geolocation devices, ropes, food supplies and fuel bottles that, presumably, the members of the criminal organization would use at the time to remove the merchandise from the ship.
In addition to the seizure of the narcotic substance, six people were arrested, including five crew members of the ship, one of Italian nationality, another Romanian, and three from the Philippines, and a Filipino citizen who was staying on the island at that time. The detainees, along with the drugs, have been placed at the disposal of the Investigative Court number 3 of Santa Cruz de Tenerife. The operation, the security forces explain, has been carried out within the framework of the usual exchange of information with other national and international organizations.
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