Briton and Australian living on Azores islands now behind bars
The Azores has been the route, and logistical base, of a major international network for the trafficking of cocaine across the Atlantic via yachts and catamarans.
PJ police have just released the results of a long investigation led by authorities in Spain and Norway which has ended with the arrest on national territory of three key elements of the network: two living in the Azores, and one on the Portuguese mainland.
Elsewhere, there have been almost four dozen arrests across 11 European countries – meaning this particular criminal organisation, with “links to the Balkans”, is now in tatters.
Dubbed Operation Mentor, it began in 2020 in Spain, but ‘accelerated’ last year with the apprehension of a sailing boat carrying 1500 kilos of cocaine in the Caribbean. How it accelerated is not clear: those detained may have given up names, or information. What is clear is that a slew of arrests have now followed.
According to Correio da Manhã today, the Azores’ part of the operation centred on two foreigners, a 55-year-old Briton living on São Miguel island, and a 37-year-old Australian resident on Faial, both of whom gave “technical support” to sailing boats.
“On the continent, a 42-year-old Portuguese was another element of the network”, says the paper.
All three were initially held by PJ police after their arrests. The Portuguese has since been bailed (on the understanding that he reports to police at specified intervals). The Briton and the Australian meantime remain in preventive custody pending their extradition to Spain.
This investigation, under the EMPACT project, was supported by EUROPOL, the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the UK’s National Crime Agency, says a release by the PJ.
The network is understood to have ‘used’ Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia as locations where its boats received their illegal cargoes.
Sources: Correio da Manhã/ Policia Judiciária
