318 kilos of cocaine wrapped in packages and hidden in 3 containers loaded with Guatemalian marshmallows were found by Hong Kong police on board of container ship KOTA PUSAKA on Nov 7, on arrival from Mexico. Three people were arrested, among them one local and two Latin America nationals, who were following drugs shipment all the way from Latin America to Asia. When first spotted by crew, they were believed to be stowaways, but in reality they came up as drug traffickers. Cocaine is believed to be destined for Jordan, not Hong Kong. Details aren’t clear but the crew were cleared of suspicions in collusion with drug trafficking, the ship was allowed to resumed scheduled trip on Nov 9. As of Nov 13, she’s under way, from Kaohsiung to Ningbo. Most important thing in stories like this one is, whether crew and management are involved or not. Second important is an upsurge in cases like this – cocaine shipped from South America is attended by South American nationalities, sneaking on board of big container ships as stowaways. It might be dangerous for crews.
The opinions expressed herein are the author’s and not necessarily those of News2Sea.
#trend #smuggling #drugs #board #mega #container #ships