Cagliari, a bordo della nave Jupiter 20 tonnellate di droga
Un’ingente quantità di hascisc nascosta a bordo della barca bloccata da tre settimane al porto di Cagliari. Lo stupefacente era « blindato », la maxi operazione svolta da Fiamme Gialle e polizia.
CAGLIARI – La barca, battente bandiera delle Isole Cook, è stata fermata tre settimane fa in pieno mare e scortata fino al porto del capoluogo sardo, sotto il controllo di motovedette della Finanza. Una volta arrivata al molo Sabaudo, l’imbarcazione è stata posta sotto sequestro. La Guardia di Finanza, insieme a varie forze di polizia, l’hanno controllata in ogni centimetro, fino a scoprire un maxi carico di droga nascosto. Meglio, « blindato » nei sottofondi della nave. L’intero carico di stupefacente è stato immediatamente sequestrato.
« Dopo quasi tre settimane dal clamoroso e inedito sequestro in alto mare della nave, le Forze dell’ordine e la Guardia di Finanza si sono mosse a colpo sicuro e dopo tre settimane di intenso lavoro sono arrivate al malloppo ». A dirlo è Mauro Pili (Unidos): Il parlamentare sardo parla di « venti tonnellate di droga, il più grande carico mai scoperto nel Mediterraneo ». Un’operazione, decisa dalla Procura di Cagliari, che è costata « oltre 200mila euro. La Jupiter è risultata pedinata da mesi, ed è stata perforata perforata in lungo e in largo con trapani speciali ».
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The Jupiter was boarded by Italian police in the Mediterranean last month
Europol received a tip-off that the cargo ship was smuggling cannabis
Experts spent 15 days searching the 97-metre long ship for its illicit cargo
The drugs were found in the ship’s specially converted forward ballast tank
Ten Syrians have been arrested trying to smuggle 20.5 tonnes of cannabis worth an estimated £150million into Europe hidden in a specially converted cargo vessel underneath massive slabs of granite.
The Cook Island-flagged merchant vessel Jupiter was boarded in the Mediterranean Sea by Italian Finance Police who are responsible for border security and taken under guard to the Port of Cagliari on Sardinia.
Europol confirmed that a major joint operation was launched after they received a tip-off that the freighter had drugs hidden beneath the legitimate cargo.
The 821 packages of cannabis, pictured, were hidden inside a cargo vessel registered in the Cook Islands
The drugs were contained in the forward ballast tank of the Jupiter, pictured, after a 15-day search
The drugs were hidden underneath a legitimate cargo of granite, pictured, which filled the vessel’s hold
The drugs were found in a specially hollowed-out area in the vessel’s forward ballast tank. In total 821 packages containing some 20.5 tonnes of cannabis was recovered.
Italian law enforcement agencies raided the vessel on the evening of September 26 after Spanish Guardia civil aircraft had kept it under surveillance.
It is understood that prior to its arrest, the vessel had visited Vigo in northern Spain, after crossing the Atlantic before heading south into the Mediterranean.
Italiansearcherssought assistance fromFrench experts whoplayed ‘a decisiverole’ in identifyingtheillegal
activity behind the shipment.
According to Europol the drugs were found ‘after a long and extremely complex search’.
A spokesman said: ‘The enormous illegal load was found skilfully stashed in a large false bottom under the hold of the vessel with its only access hidden by hundreds of tonnes of granite being used as legal cargo.’
Europol received a tip-off that the vessel, pictured, was being used to transport a large amount of illegal drugs
The search team eventually found the drugs hidden in a specially constructed section of the ballast tank
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