Maxi-seizure of 4 tons of cocaine in Spain, Venezuela denies accusations. According to the US, the drugs were loaded in Venezuelan waters.
Spanish National Police and Customs officers intercepted the Togolese-flagged Karar vessel off the coast of Vigo in the Atlantic Ocean, carrying four tons of cocaine that, according to the US DEA, were loaded at sea near the Venezuelan port of La Guajira, a claim that the Caracas authorities firmly deny. The operation, which took place at the beginning of the week, led to the seizure of drugs worth between 120 and 140 million euros, the arrest of 28 people and, according to the Noticiero Digital portal, the dismantling of the most important drug trafficking gang in Galicia, known as the 'Santorum'. Regarding the accusations leveled against Venezuela, Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza tweeted a series of information provided to him by his Interior Minister Ne'stor Reverol, which "demonstrate the lie that the Trump administration has tried to impose against Venezuela".
With the support of data provided by the Marine Traffic and Fleetmon satellite tracking programs, which “are reliable, mandatory and unchangeable,” Riverol stressed, “it is demonstrated that the cocaine transported by the Karar was loaded in Colombian waters.” “During the identification route of the maritime units,” he stressed, “it was possible to determine that the ship set sail from Panama on March 28, sailing at 7,7 knots, heading West, and having communicated Spain as its destination.” Finally, evidence from graphs and satellites “shows that the ship never used Venezuelan maritime space.” However, Reverol concludes, it is a fact that the Karar passed between Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic “without being intercepted by the U.S. authorities.”
Article published on May 3, 2020 - 08:49 pm