The Togolese-flagged cargo ship Orion V, which was intercepted this week about 62 miles southwest of the Canary Islands with 4,500 kilos of cocaine off Colombia, was destined for the Middle East and the control and location Live cattle being transported were used to make it difficult. Medicine hidden in bales among the grass.
It happens that this seized drug is added to another 4,500 kg of cocaine that was intercepted on board the Bloom cargo ship on January 18, taking the total number of drugs detected in just one week to 9,000 kg.
As reported by the Tax Agency and the National Police, in the case of the Orion V, thanks to a joint operation, 28 crew members of the ship have also been arrested – ten Tanzanians, five Syrians, four Kenyans, two Ecuadorian, two Panamanian, two Colombian, one Dominican, one Nepalese and one Nicaraguan–.
In addition, the American DEA, the Atlantic Analysis and Operations Center (MAOC-N) and the Intelligence Center Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO), as well as Togolese authorities, have cooperated.
The operation began as a result of a joint investigation by the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service, which determined the possible involvement of a vessel suspected of illegal drug trafficking from South America.
For its part, since 2020 a follow-up was being carried out on the ship ‘Orion V’ (the former ‘Spiridon’), which was being used to transport significant quantities of drugs.
In this case, it was suspected that the drug had been loaded in the port, or had been transferred to them on the open sea.
The ship had already been analyzed within the framework of an investigation carried out by the Central Narcotics Brigade and the Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in which the Santorum brothers were arrested on charges of receiving and presenting large quantities of cocaine.
Despite being subjected to controls and searches on that occasion, no drugs could be found inside, although there were ample indications that confirmed it was a boat carrying drugs under the pretext of transporting cattle to countries such as Libya, Angola, Saudi Was going Arabia, Curacao, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, Hong Kong, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Libya, Macao, Kuwait and Qatar.
Finally, the Deputy Directorate of Customs Surveillance established an aeronautical device that allowed the Fulmar ship to locate and board the cargo on the afternoon of 24 January.
Thus, after inspecting the common areas of the merchant, the presence of an undetermined number of bales commonly used for cocaine trafficking was detected in the feed silo.
For this reason, 28 crew members were arrested and the ship was seized for transfer to the port of Las Palmas. Both the detainees, the boat, the drugs and the police proceedings would be handed over to the Central Court of Inquiry, acting as the guard of the National Court.
