What began as a drug bust for the Spanish police turned into a hostage situation after a suspected cocaine smuggler killed a member of his own crew and held the others hostage on a boat from South America en route to Spain in the middle of the Atlantic, the interior ministry said on Wednesday (Feb 14).
What happened?
The Spanish police were conducting an operation following a tipoff about a vessel carrying 2.3 tonnes of cocaine from South America to Spain, in what the ministry described as the “mothership” named Sea Paradise.
The drugs were supposed to be transferred from the Panama-flagged ship to a smaller vessel before heading to the Canary Islands. However, as the police prepared to intercept the “mothership” officers learned about the hostage situation that had unfolded.
The Spanish police scrambled to get to the vessel at an undisclosed location in the Atlantic after they found out that “one member of the tugboat crew, of Serbian origin, had kidnapped the rest of the crew” said the interior ministry in a statement, adding that the priority was now protecting those who were being held hostage.
In order to take control of the vessel, the person who kidnapped the crew had reportedly fatally shot one of the men and thrown his body into the sea. Less than 12 hours later the police arrived near the vessel and what followed was hours of negotiations with the hostage taker on the high seas.
The kidnapper ended up surrendering his weapon and freed the crew “who feared for their lives,” said the statement. The incident occurred in November, but was kept under judicial secrecy until an investigation was completed, said Spain’s interior ministry, on Wednesday.
The vessel was brought to Tenerife where the officials found 2.3 tonnes of cocaine in a “very difficult-to-access compartment” divided into bundles and attached to lights and water bottles so that the drugs could float in the water until it was collected.
The high-stakes operation led to the arrest of everyone on the ship, and the seizure of 2.3 tonnes of cocaine, as well as some electronic and satellite equipment, said the interior ministry.
One of the largest intercepts
The statement about the incident in November was also released just a few days after Spanish police seized eight tonnes of cocaine in one of its largest intercepts ever.
On Monday (Feb 12), Spain’s finance ministry said that the police had seized eight tonnes of cocaine hidden in a fake power generator in the southern port of Algeciras.
The haul of cocaine was inside a metal structure which was being transported from Suriname to Panama and then onwards to Algeciras, but was intercepted before making its way to Leixoes in Portugal.
The metal structure and the route were carefully chosen by the smugglers to avoid detection, said the Spanish officials. However, the customs agents said they had forced open the metal structure after detecting a “large amount of merchandise perfectly stacked in pallets,” which practically filled the container.
(With inputs from agencies)
