Portuguese police make major high-seas drugs bust
in News · 28-06-2018 13:54:00 · 0 Comments
PJ police officers busted three men on a sailing boat deep in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, south of the Azorean island of Faial, who were attempting to smuggling 1,400 kilograms of cocaine across the pond to Europe.
The operation was carried out by the PJ police in collaboration with the navy and the air force, following a recent investigation by the PJ’s Drug Combating Unit, which involved an exchange of information with the UK’s National Crime Agency, within the parameters of the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre - Narcotics (MAOC-N), an international entity whose headquarters are in Lisbon.
Three men aged 38 to 51 of foreign nationality who were onboard the vessel were arrested by police.
In a statement from the PJ, information gathered so far indicates the men are part of a transnational criminal organisation with branches that stretch throughout Europe and Latin America.
They were concealed on the boat in fuel tanks; compartments that were only found by the PJ teams following “meticulous and intense work” by PJ inspectors, backed up by PJ officers and GNR officers.
The investigation is ongoing, with the PJ collaborating with other international entities, including British authorities.
