About ten days ago, a fishing vessel carrying drugs was stopped by French customs south of France’s economic zone in the Mediterranean Sea.
French customs seized more than 4 tons of cannabis resin on September 13 in the Mediterranean Sea. This operation took place under the direction of the maritime prefect of the Mediterranean and in coordination with the public prosecutor of Toulon.
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A fishing vessel without nationality was intercepted on the high seas, in international waters, “between the Strait of Gibraltar and the Channel of Sicily”, indicates the maritime prefecture in a press release.
The vessel was unflagged, with no visible external mark on the hull, and its course did not appear to correspond to normal fishing activity,
After an investigation and a search, the customs officers found 4 tons of drugs on board. All narcotics were seized.
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Important means
To carry out this action, French customs have deployed significant resources: a surveillance plane and an offshore patrol boat, as can be seen in the photo in the cover of the article.
Since the implementation in France of the principle of dissociation, we can choose to take it all: the boat, the crew and the cargo, or to be interested only in the flows, that is to say in the cargo . This is what has been done. This is a fairly common procedure
The intervention was directed from the Mediterranean operations center (COM) of the maritime prefecture in Toulon, in conjunction with the maritime customs operations center in Marseille (CODM). It is part of the fight against drug trafficking. “Drug trafficking is known to participate in the financing of organized crime or terrorism”indicates the maritime prefecture in its press release.
“In the Mediterranean, the most worrying route starts from the North of Morocco”
Drug seizures in France jumped during the first half of the year, Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin had pointed out in mid-August. In the first six months, 57 tonnes of cannabis were seized, or 37% more than the same period in 2020, already a record year.
“Since the beginning of the year, the French Navy alone has seized 29 tonnes of drugs, mainly in the Indian Ocean and the Antilles, twice as much as in 2019”, said Commander Lavernhe.
(With AFP)
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