Ten years after the facts, one of the accused arrested in Colombia

The man arrested is suspected of having taken care of having supervised work on the boat intercepted in 2015, so that he exports drugs to Europe. The customs officials had discovered 2.3 tonnes of cocaine aboard the ship.

Ten years after the seizure of 2.3 tonnes of cocaine found aboard the Carib Palm, Cargo intercepted off Boulogne-sur-Mer (Pas-de-Calais), one of the accused, who was absent during his trial in 2021was finally found and arrested in Colombia, learned Franceinfo from a source close to the file on Wednesday June 25. This arrest was confirmed by the Douai general prosecutor’s office, requested by Franceinfo, who specifies that France transmitted an extradition request to the Colombian authorities on Tuesday.

“He is indeed a Turkish national absent during the trial and who was sentenced to 10 years in criminal imprisonment by the northern assize court” In 2021, explained the Douai public prosecutor’s office, requested by Franceinfo. “This decision was made by default, which means that the person concerned will be entitled to a new trial if he claims it”, completes the prosecution.

The 60 -year -old man, officially shipowner, was arrested on Tuesday June 17 in Bogota, learned Franceinfo from a source close to the file. He had been wanted by the authorities since 2018 and was the subject of a red notice from Interpol since December 2021, reports this same source. In this case, he is suspected by the Colombian authorities for taking care of coordination and having supervised work on this boat, so that he exports drugs to Europe. The work of investigators In particular made it possible to connect this suspect to another ship, also arranged in Scotland in 2015 while it was carrying several tons of cocaine.

In 2019, nine crew members, mostly Ukrainians, had been sentenced to sentences up to eight years in prison. In February 2021, these are the “Organizers” From this drug trafficking that was tried by the northern assize court. The latter sentenced the ten people prosecuted to “Import of narcotic products in organized gang” to sentences ranging from 10 to 30 years in prison.

But on the accused’s bench, six men lacked the call and were targeted by an arrest warrant, including the principal, the buyer of the boat or one of the organizersreported here North (ex-France Bleu) who had covered the trial.

The Moldovan ship, who left in December 2015 of the Dominican Republic, had drawn the attention of customs officials, reported here north. A very old cargo cargo, who had declared to travel empty between Santo Domingo and the Netherlands, “Economically, it is not justified”, had explained Jean-Philippe Vigot, Director of Customs and Regional Director of Coast Guard, with North.

Arrived in French territorial waters, the ship had been confused by the authorities to the port of Boulogne-sur-Mer. After nine hours of research in the boat, the customs officers had discovered 80 bales of cocaine in the machine room, or 2.3 tonnes in total, for an estimated value at 75 million euros. A record discovery, representing 20% ​​of cocaine seizures in France that year.