Belize flag vessel busted with 5 tons of coke

A Belize flag vessel has been seized off the coast of Africa after Spanish authorities discovered over five tons of cocaine aboard. The motor vessel “Lugo” a longline fishing vessel was boarded Friday by Spanish Civil Guards after coordinating information with Interpol and the Government of Belize. According to Angelo Mouzouropoulos of IMMARBE, the body responsible for operating Belize’s merchant marine registry, his office noted that the Lugo’s electronic monitoring system stopped transmitting on January tenth with its last reported position as Colon, Panama. When on February twelfth Spanish authorities reported the ship a thousand miles off the Cape Verde Islands and requested permission to board, that authorisation was quickly granted by the Belize Government. The cocaine, in two hundred and fifteen bales, was lying in the hold of the one hundred and ten ton ship. Six crewmembers–all Colombians–were arrested, as were six others aboard: five Spaniards and one woman from the Dominican Republic. In recent years regulations imposed by Belize over its flagged vessels have tightened considerably in conjunction with tougher international maritime regulations. In this instance IMMARBE has launched its own investigation to see if the Lugo’s ownership extends to other Belize flagged ships. In the meantime, outside of whatever criminal penalties are imposed, those owners have been fined fifty thousand U.S. dollars by Belize and the ship has been de-registered.