HAPAG-LLOYD's 4,612-TEU Dusseldorf Express, standing off the Caribbean Port of Cartagena, Colombia, was raided by police, who arrested five stowaways in connection with a 1.6 ton of cocaine they found aboard, reports Kiev's Maritime Bulletin, which specialises in marine casualties.
Police were summoned after the bridge team spotted the approach of a rubber boat. Having found five aliens, believed to be stowaways aboard the Bermuda-flagged ship, police checked containers and found 51 packages containing in total, 1,539 kilogrammes of high purity cocaine, plus five kilos of amphetamines.
The ship berthed at Cartagena same day, then left port for Tangiers continued its rotations to Italy and Spain - 'favorite destinations of drug traffickers', noted the Maritime Bulletin.
'It is not yet known, if five who boarded the ship, were just stowaways, or so-called 'monkeys' (so called because they climb rope ladders to board the ships) and can be genuine stowaways, but have been known to carry drugs, or hoist packages after they boarded the ship, and hide them in designated containers,' said the report.
'Drug traffickers possess detailed information for such purposes ships, including location of containers, most suitable for access and drugs stash. Sometimes crew members are involved, though in the case of Dusseldorf Express, it no crewman was implicated to warrant an arrest,' it said.
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Police were summoned after the bridge team spotted the approach of a rubber boat. Having found five aliens, believed to be stowaways aboard the Bermuda-flagged ship, police checked containers and found 51 packages containing in total, 1,539 kilogrammes of high purity cocaine, plus five kilos of amphetamines.
The ship berthed at Cartagena same day, then left port for Tangiers continued its rotations to Italy and Spain - 'favorite destinations of drug traffickers', noted the Maritime Bulletin.
'It is not yet known, if five who boarded the ship, were just stowaways, or so-called 'monkeys' (so called because they climb rope ladders to board the ships) and can be genuine stowaways, but have been known to carry drugs, or hoist packages after they boarded the ship, and hide them in designated containers,' said the report.
'Drug traffickers possess detailed information for such purposes ships, including location of containers, most suitable for access and drugs stash. Sometimes crew members are involved, though in the case of Dusseldorf Express, it no crewman was implicated to warrant an arrest,' it said.
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