MADRID, April 17 – Five people have been arrested when a fishing boat carrying nearly three tonnes of cocaine was intercepted off the Canary Islands, Spanish police said.
The AKT 1 was stopped by a Spanish Coast Guard about 300 nautical miles south of the Spanish archipelago on April 13 when attempting to impersonate another fishing boat.
Spanish police seized 2.9 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of 72 million euros ($77.80 million) hidden in one of the fuel tanks.
Police officers unload drugs from the fishing boat ‘AKT-1’ impounded south of the Canary Islands in Las Palmas port on the island of Gran Canaria, Spain, April 16, 2022. REUTERS/Borja Suarez
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The boat was returned to Gran Canaria on Saturday and the five arrested were remanded in Las Palmas.
“When we boarded, (officials) found that the fishing boat was transporting a significant number of bundles normally used for cocaine trafficking, so the boat’s five crew members – four of Turkish nationality and one of Georgian nationality – were immediately arrested ‘ a spokesman for the Spanish Guardia Civil said.
($1 = 0.9254 euros)
Reporting by Graham Keeley; Edited by Kirsten Donovan