Four hundred kilos of 'high purity' cocaine, worth €20 million, were seized early on Saturday aboard a sailboat from the Caribbean. The two crew, an Italian and a Montenegrin, were detained in the operation and the boat, as well as the cargo, were brought to the navy wharf at the Port of Portimão.
The operation, coordinated by the Judiciary Police, had the participation of the Portuguese Air Force and Navy, which sent two corvettes and the Special Operations Detachment of the Marines, to intercept the sailboat, somewhere in the Portuguese Exclusive Economic Zone.
Rosa Mota, investigation coordinator of the National Unit to Combat Narcotics Trafficking (UNCTE), responsible for the operation, told journalists that this mega seizure of cocaine resulted "from information processed within the scope of international cooperation", and also involved "authorities United Kingdom and Italy'.
The drug was destined for “a port on the Portuguese coast”, which the Judiciary Police knows what it is, but does not disclose it so as not to compromise the investigation that is still in progress. From there it would be distributed to the rest of Europe, "by land".
The vessel, a discreet two-masted sailboat, is linked to a "European network" of drug trafficking, "with links to Latin America and probably the Caribbean" and with "elements in Portugal", added the responsible for the PJ.
The network, at least in Portugal, was not known, but “one of the detainees already had a history of drug trafficking”.
The sailboat, which authorities at the international level knew to have left the Caribbean loaded with drugs, ended up being located "600 miles south of the Azores". "We had objective indications that that sailboat was carrying a large amount of cocaine, so we had to find it," added Rosa Mota.
And the detection of the vessel ended up being carried out by the Air Force, in this joint operation. Lieutenant Colonel Bernardo da Costa, Air Force spokesman, also present at the press conference at the naval support point of the Navy, in Portimão, explained that the FA has “air resources capable of following up at great heights and great distance', that is, 'without being seen or detected'.
The follow-up of the sailboat was carried out «over a week», and it was decided to board the vessel when it was already sailing in Portugal's EEZ, on the night of September 29th to 30th.
The Navy, as revealed by its spokesman, Commander Pedro Coelho Dias, participated in this part of the operation with two corvettes and the Special Operations Detachment of the Marines, who boarded the sailboat.
Inside, they found the two crew, who, according to Inspector Rosa Mota, "were not armed, nor did they offer resistance."
The drug, he added, "was hidden inside cabins, under beds and inside closets."
The four hundred kilos of cocaine seized, in what is the biggest seizure of the year of its kind, were packed in packages of around one kilo, wrapped in different layers and types of plastic and identified with logos of the producers.
It is, according to Rosa Mota, cocaine with an “extremely high degree of purity”. "When the narcotic comes directly from the producing countries, as is the case, the degree of purity is always extremely high, above 90%, sometimes almost 100%."
The UNCTE investigation coordinator added that “this type of operations would be impossible to do without the participation of both the Navy and the Air Force. They are very good at what they do».
On the other hand, Lieutenant Colonel Bernardo da Costa underlined that “the Portuguese State has the means, but also trained personnel to operate these means”, in this case in non-military missions, but equally of great importance.
Photos: Elisabete Rodrigues|Sul Informação
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