How the raid of the ‘Arconian’ led to the largest cocaine haul in history

On Friday, May 1st, a public holiday, Spain’s Civil Guard launched a complex operation to board a merchant ship that, according to intelligence reports, was suspected of carrying a massive shipment of cocaine in its holds. That afternoon, eight Civil Guard officers in dark uniforms, helmets and bulletproof vests disembarked from the Civil Guard vessel Duque de Ahumada and boarded a motorboat that took them to the suspicious ship. It was an hour-long journey during which the waves tossed the boat around, as captured on video by another vessel that participated in the operation. Finally, they positioned themselves alongside the Arconian. The cargo ship, with its hull painted green and red and about the length of a football field, was sailing off the coast of Dakhla in Western Sahara, around 200 nautical miles (370 kilometers) south of the Canary Islands.

Daylight did not favor the operation, as it eliminated the element of surprise. Moreover, the heavy swells continued, further complicating an already risky enterprise. The heavily armed agents of the Special Intervention Unit (UEI, specializing in high-risk situations) managed to climb aboard the ship after 40 minutes of failed attempts, according to sources familiar with the operation who spoke to EL PAÍS. Meanwhile, the cargo ship continued to sail without reducing its speed. Two more hours elapsed before the agents gained control of the vessel and arrested its 23 crew members. The Spanish judge in charge of the case at the Audiencia Nacional court, Ismael Moreno, places the arrest at 8:30 p.m., court documents show.

It was a tense raid. Once aboard, the agents arrested 17 crew members, all Filipino nationals. The captain, Rodolfo S. G., 69, cooperated with the officers. “He knew what he was carrying,” sources familiar with the operation confirmed, referring to the 30-ton shipment of cocaine and the 42,000 liters of gasoline they discovered. The fuel was intended to refuel the speedboats that were to pick up the drugs at the unloading point, likely somewhere offshore in the Mediterranean.

Behind a metal partition, resembling a door but welded shut, agents found a drug shipment of unprecedented dimensions, both for Spain—the previous record was 13 tons seized in October 2014 in the port of Algeciras—and worldwide—in 2019, U.S. authorities intercepted a 20-ton haul. The bales, wrapped in black, gray or white plastic, were piled high in a passageway running along the port side of the vessel from bow to stern. In the twin passageway on the starboard side, they found gasoline in blue and yellow jerrycans.

However, the six guards in charge of watching over the stash didn’t make it easy. Upon seeing the armed officers, they hid in a corner of the ship, concealed among barrels. The men, all Dutch nationals, were in possession of three assault rifles and three pistols, as well as 10 boxes of ammunition, in case they were attacked by other drug trafficking organizations (known in police jargon as “rip-offs”) or needed to resolve any disputes with the rest of the crew during the voyage. When they discovered their hiding place, the Spanish law enforcement agents pointed their weapons at the guards, demanding they drop their guns, but the latter instead pointed their weapons at the officers.

For several tense minutes no one moved from their positions, as everyone kept their weapons raised, according to sources involved in the operation. The six guards were the alleged representatives of the Mocro Maffia, a network of highly violent clans based in the Netherlands that has even challenged the state by threatening Princess Amalia of Orange. Their mission was to ensure the safe passage of the drugs and, if necessary, defend it with weapons. In the end, they did not. The six guards laid down their weapons and were handcuffed in the same spot on the ship where they had been hiding.

The investigation, led by the Central Operational Unit (UCO) of the Civil Guard, has confirmed that the Arconian is registered to Serenity Shipping SL Ltd, a company based in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, which acquired the vessel on February 2nd. It also revealed that the cargo ship arrived at the port of this African city on February 8th and, after two weeks docked, departed on the 22nd of that month with Benghazi, Libya, as its declared destination. A Dutch fugitive named Joseph Johannes Leijdekkers, alias “Jos El Gordito,” has been living in Libya for two years and is suspected of being linked to this large cocaine shipment.

This record seizure was the result of a race against time. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the Dutch police had alerted the Spanish Civil Guard the day before about a ship leaving the West African coast with a huge quantity of cocaine, which was allegedly going to be transferred at sea to smaller vessels. An “imminent introduction into the Iberian Peninsula” was anticipated, according to Judge Moreno’s ruling. The UCO’s Maritime Intelligence Section was tasked with searching for the ship and locating the Arconian.

Within hours, a large-scale operation was launched, involving vessels from the Maritime Service, aircraft from the Air Service, the Reserve and Security Group (ARS), and the Maritime Coordination and Surveillance Center. The Anti-Drug Prosecutor’s Office filed a complaint in court against the ship’s occupants as soon as they were arrested, accompanied by reports from the DEA and the Dutch police’s criminal intelligence unit, both dated Thursday, April 30.

The Arconian docked in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria at 7:45 p.m. on Sunday, after two days at sea under the command of the Civil Guard. The following day, a court-ordered search of the vessel was carried out in the presence of the crew, and on Tuesday, those arrested were transferred to Madrid. After taking their statements, the judge had them remanded in custody.

During the course of the following week, dozens of officers participated in the analysis and weighing of the seized shipment. The bales were removed from the vessel, which required dragging them with ropes and piling them on deck, from where they were lifted by a crane and placed on the dock. The packages were numbered with blue spray paint, all 1,279 of them. The bales, weighing between 20 and 24 kilos each, were marked with names like “Elite,” “Dior,” or “Poseidon,” presumably to determine which drug trafficking organization each one belonged to. The final weight, 30,215 kilos of cocaine, was unprecedented in a single seizure.

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