Minister praises Navy’s “fundamental, irreplaceable role in combating organised crime”
Portugal’s PJ police and Navy have intercepted a Brazilian-flagged fishing boat with 1.6 tonnes of cocaine on board as part of an international operation to combat drug trafficking.
In a statement released today, the PJ said that the boat, with a crew of six Brazilian nationals, was intercepted 500 nautical miles from Cape Verde. It was escorted to the island nation, where it was searched and a hidden compartment found containing 60 bales of cocaine.
Following these searches, all the crew members were arrested by Cape Verdean authorities.
The location and interception of the vessel, around 900 kilometres west of the Cape Verde archipelago, took place via the Navy’s ocean patrol vessel, which also had elements of the Portuguese and Cape Verdean PJ on board.
There were strong suspicions that the fishing boat was being used by a criminal organisation to transport a large quantity of cocaine between South America and the European continent, the statement said.
This operation, dubbed “Trade Winds”, was coordinated through the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), an international cooperation platform for strengthening the fight against drug trafficking by sea, based in Lisbon, which includes nine European countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Ireland, the United Kingdom, Belgium and Germany.
As well as the direct involvement of Cape Verde and Portugal, the operation also involved the active collaboration of Brazilian Federal Police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration and the UK’s National Crime Agency, said the PJ, adding that investigations into this case are continuing.
Ministry hails ‘decisive action’ by Navy
In a statement, the Ministry of National Defence has welcomed yet another decisive action by the Navy, which only yesterday announced the seizure of two further ‘narco launches’ off the coast of the Algarve.
The ministry headed by Nuno Melo stressed ‘the fundamental and irreplaceable role of the Portuguese Navy in actions to combat crime, particularly highly organised crime, drug trafficking and human trafficking’.
Source: SIC Notícias
