2.6 Tonnes Of Cocaine Worth $ 570 Million Seized By Police In Atlantic Ocean

Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese law enforcement authorities have seized over 2.6 tonnes of cocaine in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal. The illicit shipment has an estimated street value of €500 million ($570 million).

The operation was led by Italy’s Guardia di Finanza, or the border and customs police, in close coordination with Spanish and Portuguese authorities, under the direction of public prosecutors in the northern Italian city of Brescia.

The drugs were found on an ultra-fast rigid inflatable boat (RIB).

Often referred to as “go-fast” vessels, these specialised craft measure between 10 and 16 meters in length and have multiple high-powered engines capable of reaching speeds of more than 70 knots.

Four crew members were arrested on board during the raid, including two Spanish nationals, a resident of Gibraltar, and an Albanian citizen who was living in Italy.

According to investigators, transnational criminal networks use these high-speed boats to meet transoceanic freighter ships coming from South America far out at sea.

The cargo is dropped into the ocean and retrieved by the RIB crew to avoid detection at commercial ports.

Organised criminal networks have abandoned ports in Northern Europe and carried out at-sea transfers across the Atlantic Ocean.

This latest bust follows a massive two-week joint operation led by Europol across the eastern Atlantic corridor, between the Spanish Canary Islands and the Portuguese Azores, which resulted in the seizure of 11 tonnes of cocaine and 8.5 tonnes of hashish.