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The cocaine traffickers of the “Balkan cartel” have a cell specialized in the transport of this drug with the help of sailboats and yachts, which use a new maritime route, which starts from the Gulf of Guinea in Africa.
Several investigations by the Spanish Civil Guard have recently reported a “growing presence” in Galicia, in the south of the Iberian Peninsula and in the Canary Islands, of members of criminal gangs from Albania, Montenegro, Croatia and Bosnia who are involved in transport . of cocaine in Europe.
The COVID pandemic turned the activity of drug traffickers upside down after their traditional routes were compromised with the intensification of sanitary controls in South American ports, writes AFP, taken over by Agerpres. This is why traffickers are forced to receive drugs off the African coast of the Gulf of Guinea. Thus was born “the new African maritime route for international drug trafficking.”
Almost one ton of cocaine, destined for the European market and whose commercial value has been estimated at more than 40 million euros, was confiscated on the “new African route” off the Canary Islands by a joint operation of the Croatian and Spanish authorities.
Operation Falkusa, a raid that lasted nine months
The operation was called “Falkusa” and lasted almost nine months.
The shipment was discovered on a Croatian-flagged sailboat, with three Croatian citizens on board. They are part of a “Balkan cartel cell specializing in drug trafficking on sailboats and yachts,” Croatian police said in a statement on Saturday.
The ship was intercepted “in international waters, some 88 miles (163 km) west of the island of La Palma”, announced, in turn, the Spanish Civil Guard. All three crew members were arrested.
The sailboat had been under surveillance since its departure from the Croatian port of Sibenik in early 2020. It was not until August that it set sail from the Canary Islands to the south to embark the cargo.
During the search, 980 packages of drugs were discovered, that is, 980 kg. in the hold of the sailboat. The narcotics were destined for the markets of Spain and Croatia and had a value of more than 40 million euros.
Read also: The Italian mafia now has competition from imports. The disturbing story of a former trafficker: “I did not eat for two days to do this”
