Spanish police have seized around 4.5 tonnes of cocaine off the Canary Islands. The seizure was made on a Togo-flagged ship that had traveled from Latin America.
Officially, the ship Orion V had a cargo of livestock destined for the Middle East. However, the ship has been under surveillance for over two years, according to Spanish police. Its cargo had previously been “examined and searched, with no narcotics found despite compelling leads”.
The breakthrough came in a coordinated effort both at sea and from the air, which also involved the United States’ federal narcotics police DEA, Togolese authorities and the maritime operational agency for counternarcotics MAOC-N.
The drugs were found in a container where the livestock were fed. The crew of 28 people from nine countries were arrested after the discovery.
The crackdown follows another operation against a Togo-flagged vessel, the Blume, where an equal amount of cocaine was found earlier in January.
That police operation was also carried out in the sea area southeast of the Canary Islands.
See the images from the ship in the player above.