Drug traffickers are finding it difficult to successfully move contraband through French waters as FS crewmen are again celebrating a massive drug bust.
According to local reports, on Sunday, July 4, the surveillance frigate (FS) Germinal boarded a sailboat flying the American flag on the high seas, east of the Lesser Antilles. As they approached the Navy building, the two drug traffickers set fire to their boat in order to destroy the illegal cargo. After extinguishing the fire, the FS crew recovered 310 kilograms of cocaine spared by the flames.
The two traffickers, both of Bulgarian nationality, aged 44 and 51, were handed over to the investigators of the anti-narcotics office (OFAST) on their arrival in Martinique. They were both indicted on Friday, July 9 on “counts of importing and exporting narcotics in an organized group, acquisition, possession, transport and offering or transfer of narcotics and participation in a criminal association with a view to committing the aforementioned crimes and offenses.”
Intelligence believes that the drugs, the 7th largest seizure for the year, were headed for Europe and represents a loss of more than 9 million euros.