Biggest ever cocaine haul sees 9.5 tonnes seized
An EU drugs operation has resulted in what is thought to be the biggest ever haul of cocaine on this side of the Atlantic with the seizure of 9.5 tonnes of the drug off the coast of West Africa.
The haul would have a nominal value of around €650m but, given its very high purity, would be worth many multiples of that once broken down by various criminal organisations.
The seizure was made by authorities in the island republic of Cape Verde, off the coast of west Africa, as a result of intelligence provided by the EU’s Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre-Narcotics.
The operational taskforce, based in Lisbon, comprises seven member states: France, Ireland, Italy, Spain, the Netherlands, Portugal, and the UK.
The agency suspects that the shipment would have been bound for the lucrative European market, including Ireland.
“You hear the term ‘mother lode’, well this is a mother load and a half,” one source told the Irish Examiner. “It will be a long time before you see a seizure like this again — it puts all the others in the shade.”
The previous record seizure according to MAOC-N was five tonnes.
It is thought that bigger consignments of cocaine have only ever been seized on the other side of the Atlantic, including in Columbia and the US, where seizures of between 14 and 21 tonnes have been recorded.
The Judiciary Police of Cape Verde said 260 bales of cocaine, weighing 9.57 tonnes, was seized from a Panama-registered boat, ESER, in the port of Praia, Santiago, Cape Verde, on Thursday night.
Some 11 people in the crew, all Russian citizens, were detained.
It said the operation was developed following an investigation resulting from the exchange of operational information with MAOC-N.
The authorities received co-operation and technical support from the Portuguese Judicial Police and the French National Police.
Sources said that such shipments often transit through west Africa before heading up the coast of Europe, where the haul is offloaded onto fishing vessels.
“There would have been huge money behind this, huge organisation and huge logistics,” said a source.
Sources said that given the sheer scale of the consignment, all the major organised crime groups in the continent, including Irish, would have got their share.
Sources have previously told the Irish Examiner that a “tsunami” of cocaine was coming across from South America for the European market.
The Cape Verde haul came just a day after 2.5 tonnes of cocaine was seized by the Portuguese navy in another MAOC-N operation.
Also this week, 2.1 tonnes was seized in Italy, its largest cocaine haul in 25 years, off a boat from South America and destined for Spain.
