Aug
17
17/08/2012
SOFIA, Bulgaria – Two more Bulgarians have been arrested after the seizure of 3.3 tons of cocaine on a merchant ship off southern Spain, including the suspected mastermind, the Bulgarian government said on Aug.16.
All 21 Bulgarian sailors on the Bulgaria-owned Saint Nikolay, which authorities boarded 80 kilometers (50 miles) off Cádiz on Aug. 15, were arrested as well as six Colombians in Madrid and four Spaniards in the northwestern region of Galicia, Spanish officials said.
Bulgaria’s interior ministry confirmed the arrests on Aug. 16, adding “two more Bulgarian citizens were detained in a follow-up operation on Bulgarian territory.”
One of them, a 37-year-old man from Sofia, was the alleged chief organizer of the smuggling operation. The other man, age 46, was in charge of hiring some of the ship’s crew, the ministry said.
Bulgarian criminals have long been involved in international cocaine smuggling rings. Spain is the main gateway to Europe for cocaine from Latin America and for cannabis from neighboring Morocco. Police regularly make large seizures.
Sofia extradited to Italy in late July one of its alleged cocaine-trafficking lords, Evelin Banev, nicknamed “Brendo.” He is accused of trafficking cocaine from Latin America to Europe between 2004 and 2007.
[AFP, 17/08/2012; Expatica.com (Bulgaria), 17/08/2012]
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