Portuguese police have seized a catamaran flying the French flag around 80 miles off the central archipelago of the Azores and escorted it to Horta on the island of Faial. During a search there, 840 kilograms of cocaine were found, with a market value of 36 million euros.
The drugs were discovered in five stashes on the yacht. On board were two men and two women aged between 21 and 36. There is no exact information about their nationality yet, only: "They are all Europeans." They were arrested in Horta without resistance. In addition to the drugs and the ship, several navigation and satellite communication devices, mobile phones, tablets, a computer, money and documents were confiscated.
Artur Vaz, the director of the National Unit for Combating Drug Trafficking (UNCTE), explained that the arrest was the result of a concerted operation by the air force, navy and a special unit to combat drug smuggling. The seizure was finally made in the middle of the Atlantic by the maritime police unit stationed in Horta.
The location of the seizure seems strange, but only at first glance - the action was not random. Out of sight of the catamaran crew, Portuguese Air Force reconnaissance aircraft had electronically monitored the course of the ship coming from the Caribbean from the air.
Drug fighter Vaz said that the cocaine on the catamaran could only have come from one of these three countries: Colombia, Bolivia or Peru. It was supposed to have been shipped to Europe via the Caribbean.
The recent drug discovery is not an isolated case; apparently sailing yachts are increasingly being used to transport drugs across the Atlantic. As recently as July, 1.5 tonnes of cocaine were discovered on an Open 60 off Martinique. And almost at the same time, participants in an Atlantic regatta from Bermunda to Hamburg were apprehended and searched as they approached Europe's coasts.
