A total of 4,500 kilos of cocaine that were hidden in a ship from Colombia that was carrying 1,750 cowswhose destination was presumably Beirut, the Lebanese capital, were seized by the National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, in Spain.
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The crew of the freighter Orion was made up by 28 people from different countries, as reported by the newspaper ‘El País’. The crew members, arrested and guarded by the authorities, remain on the ship to take care of the livestock while it is decided what to do with them.
The drug, which was hidden among the animals, It was unloaded last Thursday night, under police surveillance.
The case is handled by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor of the National Court.
After being intercepted, the boat was taken to the Nelson Mandela dock, in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, where she has been tied up since last Thursday at 8 in the morning.
This is the third ship that falls in recent weeks loaded with cocaine, after the arrest of the sailboat Mambo (2,500 kilos of drugs) and the freighter Blume (4,500 kilos)all in the vicinity of the Canary Islands.
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The cows would be slaughtered
According to what was revealed by ‘El País!, the possibility of take the boat to Algeciraswhere the cows could be unloaded and, possibly, slaughtered since the Canary Islands Health Services have refused to allow the animals to land on the island.
The reason is that the animalss “do not meet the requirements of the European Union to be converted into meat”, they point out.
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As the detainees are about to be brought before the courts, the Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office and the Central Investigating Court number 6 of the National Court will now have to decide what to do: sIf the cows land and where, or if they are transferred to their destination, Beirut, as legal merchandise.
TIME
