Five Spaniards were arrested this Friday when the Senegalese Navy intercepted a fast motorized boat with 690 kilos of cocaine on the high seas that was destined for Europe, as confirmed by a Senegalese military spokesperson.
“The identity documents of the five people discovered indicate that they are of Spanish nationality. They have been made available to the competent services of the Senegalese Police,” declared Commander Baye, of the Information and Public Relations Directorate of the Armed Forces of Senegal (DIRPA).
The Navy reported this Saturday on the social network
The Navy indicated that “690 kilograms of cocaine were recovered and returned to Dakar” as well as the boat and “its five crew members,” but then did not provide the nationalities of the detainees, confirmed by the aforementioned spokesperson, who did not provide more details about those arrested.
“The national Navy remains determined to prohibit any passage of drugs into the Senegalese EEZ (Exclusive Economic Zone),” the Navy added this Saturday.
The Senegalese naval force seized the drugs after the same patrol vessel intercepted three tons of cocaine on board the ship “NTEN FAYE” on the 16th, south of Senegalese waters and 425 kilometers from the coast.
The Navy estimated the “minimum value” of this seizure at 126 billion CFA francs (about 192 million euros).
Both the ship and its seven crew members were taken to the Amiral Faye Gassama naval base in Dakar.
Long considered a transit zone for drugs produced in Latin America, West and Central Africa has become a region of high consumption, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).
According to the UNODC, between 2019 and 2022, at least 57 tons of cocaine were seized in West Africa or en route to the region, mainly in Cape Verde, Senegal and Benin.