Former Greek Shipowner Denies Role In $200M Cocaine Shipment Seized In Spain

bulk carrier — Image for representation purposes only

The former Greek owner of a cargo ship that was seized in 2023 with over four tons of cocaine on board has denied having any connection to the drugs, according to his lawyer.

In January 2023, Spanish authorities stopped the vessel Blume, which was flying the Togo flag and operated by a Greek company at the time. The ship was intercepted off the Canary Islands.

Authorities discovered cocaine worth about $200 million hidden onboard, alongside a shipment of coffee beans. The ship had departed from Brazil and was headed to Russia.

After the seizure, the crew members were arrested and the ship was taken to the island of Tenerife. The seizure was one of the largest cocaine busts in Spain that year.

This week, Greek police detained the former 68-year-old owner of the ship, his 24-year-old son, and a woman in connection with the case. All three appeared before a prosecutor on Friday. They are facing charges of running an international drug trafficking group, which investigators say may have been operating since at least 2021.

According to court documents, a fourth person connected to the case is still missing and is believed to be in Turkey.
Lawyer Sakis Kehagioglou, who is representing the suspects, said in a statement that his clients had no role in the drug operation and expressed confidence that a full investigation and any future trial would prove their innocence. He also said that the ship’s crew members had already been convicted in relation to the case.

Court records show that the ship was being monitored long before it was stopped. British authorities received a tip about the drug smuggling operation in September 2022. After looking into the vessel’s history, Spanish police identified it as matching the pattern of ships used for transferring drugs between vessels at sea.

On January 18, 2023, officials in Tenerife boarded the ship and found 153 bags of cocaine hidden in two areas: one inside a crew member’s cabin and another in a storage room.

The investigation in Greece revealed that the ship had been purchased in 2022 by a company named Rentoor Chartering and operated by another company called Dignatio Corp. Both firms were based in the Marshall Islands and were set up by the 68-year-old Greek suspect, who is a former police officer with a previous criminal record.

The ship, which was renamed after the drug seizure, was later sold to a Turkish company in May 2023.

Reference: Reuters

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