cocaine

Spanish Police Arrest Stowaway With 200 Kilos of Cocaine

Published

2 years ago

March 25, 2023

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Reported in Maritime Executive

Cocaine smuggling is a commonplace risk for vessels transiting from Colombia to Europe, but a recent bust at the port of Gijon, Spain had an unusual twist. The cocaine was in the possession of a stowaway, a 58-year-old Colombian national who had boarded the ship during a previous port call.

On Monday afternoon, the freighter Iraklis arrived in Gijon on a voyage from Barranquilla, Colombia, carrying a load of coke for a Spanish steel mill. Before arrival, the captain contacted Spanish authorities to report that there was a stowaway aboard. Agents with the Civil Guard, the National Police and the national tax agency (Tributaria) were on hand at the pier to arrest the individual and search the ship.

The stowaway had been hiding in a “covered structure” on board the ship, according to La Nueva Espana. A search with dogs turned up 200 kilos of cocaine on board, worth at least $6 million on the European market.

Cocaine commands a high price in Europe, and criminal organizations based in South America and southern Europe have come up with countless methods for importing it into the continent. Customs authorities discover more than 100 tonnes of cocaine per year in ordinary containers at the ports of Rotterdam and Antwerp, the main hubs for the drug’s arrival in the EU. Other known methods include narco-submarine transport; transshipment at sea off the Canary Islands; and the ploy of affixing packages on the hull’s exterior or inside of an intake grate.

The haul found aboard the Iraklis is the second recent report of a drug-smuggling attempt accompanied by stowaways, though in a much different location. Last Tuesday, U.S. Customs and Border Protection and the U.S. Coast Guard detained 18 migrants who had stowed away aboard a container barge in an attempt to enter the port of San Juan, Puerto Rico. 16 were rescued from the water, but the remaining two were found aboard the barge, and they were in possession of 11 kilos of cocaine and a handgun.

https://maritime-executive.com/article/spanish-police-arrest-stowaway-with-200-kilos-of-cocaine

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cocaine

ABC (Australia News) Victorian men jailed over attempted ‘astronomical’ cocaine import into South Australia

Published

4 weeks ago

January 30, 2025

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In short:

Two men have been sentenced to three years’ jail with a non-parole period of 18 months for trying to import more than 100 kilograms of cocaine into South Australia.

The judge said the pair had followed the drugs from WA to SA on the instruction of their drug dealers in order to pay off drug debts they had accumulated.

What’s next?

The men’s sentences have been backdated to when they were first imprisoned last February and they will both be eligible for parole in August.

Two young Victorian men who were involved in the attempted importation of an “astronomical” amount of cocaine into South Australia have been labelled “muppets” and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

Rayn Sadik, 20, and Yousif Al-Asadi, 23, were sentenced in South Australia’s District Court on Wednesday after they each entered a guilty plea to one count of attempting to possess a commercial quantity of an unlawfully imported border controlled drug last year.

The maximum penalty for that offence is life imprisonment or a fine of $2,347,500.

More at

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-01-29/victorian-men-sentenced-over-attempt-to-import-100kg-of-cocaine/104870476

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Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

Published

1 month ago

January 18, 2025

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NEARLY three tonnes of cocaine and four military-grade weapons have been seized in a major drug bust along the Guadalquivir River in Sevilla.

Spanish police reported that the men had ‘paramilitary training’ and were armed with what appeared to be Kalashnikov assault rifles.

The presence of such weapons suggests a level of organisation and capacity for violence far beyond typical drug smuggling operations.

Military-trained narcos arrested in three tonne cocaine bust in south of Spain: Kalashnikov assault rifles among weapons seized

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Shipment of grapes entering Canada hid massive stash of suspected cocaine

Published

4 months ago

November 3, 2024

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More than 600 kilograms of suspected cocaine — roughly the weight of a concert grand piano — was discovered inside a shipment of grapes intercepted by border officers earlier this month.

The seizure took place on Oct. 15 at the Ambassador Bridge in Windsor, Ont.

A spokesperson for the Canada Border Services Agency says an investigation is underway with law enforcement partners.

The agency declined an interview and said it doesn’t comment on the status of ongoing investigations.

CBSA hasn’t provided an estimate of the street value of the 615 kilograms, but earlier this year estimated the value of a cocaine seizure less than half this size at $6.5 million.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/ambassador-bridge-cocaine-grapes-1.7368639

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