The announcement of the discovery by the Italian authorities of a cargo of cocaine worth 150 million euros on the bulk carrier ATLAS of Laskaridis Shipping is led by the company.

The statement said a cargo of cocaine was found in the ship’s seawater intake holes – about 11 meters below the waterline. “Outboard water intake holes are a part of the ship that is not accessible from the inside and is accessible only to divers,” the company emphasizes.

Laskaridis Shipping adds that the crew cooperated fully with the authorities, who, after a thorough investigation of the entire vessel, “found that neither the crew nor the company was in any way involved in the incident in question.”

Announcement in detail:

“Laskaridis Shipping, the commercial operator of the bulk carrier ATLAS (IMO: 9642368), is assisting local authorities and law enforcement with investigations into the discovery of suspicious contraband (presumably cocaine) in ports for the ship’s seafood suction – approximately 11 meters below the waterline. Ports seawater suction is a part of the ship that is not accessible from the inside and is accessible only to divers.

The crew cooperated fully with the authorities, who, after a thorough search of the entire ship, determined that neither the crew nor the company were in any way involved in the incident.

The vessel left the loading port in Santos, Brazil on March 23 and arrived via Gibraltar to transship coal to Venice, Italy for unloading on April 17, 2023.

The smuggling was discovered by local authorities while the ship was docked in Venice.

Since then, the vessel has proceeded to the berth according to the original schedule and the commercial unloading operations are proceeding smoothly.”

Venice: More than 800kg of cocaine found on Greek ship

Earlier today it became known that more than 800 kilograms of cocaine worth about 150 million euros were carefully hidden on a Greek-owned ship.

The ship has been anchored off the coast of Venice since Thursday as it sailed from Santos, Brazil.

The way the drugs were hidden aboard the ship points to a common practice of drug cartels using divers to hide drugs on reefs without the knowledge of the crew or managers.

None of the sailors of the ship, according to the Tradewinds website, which brought to the attention of the public, were arrested.

At the same time, the drugs were found by divers on behalf of the Italian authorities, carefully wrapped in polyethylene, in 570 packages, inside the ventilation ducts.