The Master of an MSC containership is being accused of international drug trafficking after authorities in Italy unveiled a complex scheme to offload drugs at sea so they can be smuggled into Europe.
So far 12 people have been arrested in connection to the case.
The ship, MSC Poh Lin, is currently under arrest at the port of Gioia Tauro, where authorities have seized some 1,500 containers in connection to the investigation. One container in particular had three bags containing the drugs.
Italy’s Guardia di Finanza describes the smuggling scheme as particularly complex and sophisticated as it recruited port workers and the Captain of the vessel, who used to encrypted messages to communicate about the drugs and avoid law enforcement.
MSC Poh Lin was intercepted by some 300 officers on July 8th after arriving in Gioia Tauro from South America.
The scheme was allegedly organized by the well known mafia-type criminal organization Ndrangheta.
In total, authorities have seized about 83 kilograms of cocaine.
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