MV KARAR

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Trial regarding drug smuggle continued with interrogations

After three days of preliminary questions, the trial regarding the drug seizure aboard the 'Karar' faced the beginning of a key phase on April 22: the interrogations of the accused. The 14 crew members from Nepal and Bangladesh of the ship, which was transporting the 3.8 tons of cocaine, who will be released this week after four years in prison at the end of the maximum period of preventive detention, will be the first to testify. In the session, six of them already did so, including the captain, who, like the rest, confessed his guilt. Alim Ullah, the 48-year-old Bangladeshi, acknowledged that, after leaving Panama, they loaded the drugs on the high seas off the coast of Colombia and that the instructions were to take them to Vigo, where they were to land it about 350 nautical miles from the Olívic city. Along with the crew, Bueu resident José Manuel Blanco Gestido was on the ship, the only Spaniard on board, whom the captain and the other defendants who testified have incriminated by indicating that he was in charge of supervising the illicit cargo. Given the exceptional situation that the entire foreign crew was experiencing due to their imminent release – the maximum period of deprivation of liberty expires on April 25 at dawn – the prosecutor accepted that the interrogations of the 28 accused would begin with these sailors. The intention of their defense lawyers – given that, lacking economic means and roots in Spain, they will be welcomed in shelters spread across several Galician provinces – is to be excused from attending the trial sessions until the final day. Alim Ullah, the captain, was the first to testify. With the help of an interpreter. He confessed his participation in the drug trafficking operation that failed when at 6:20 a.m. on April 25, 2020, the “Karar” was boarded with the cache inside. The rest of the interrogated crew members also admitted their guilt: Mohammed Iman Sharif, Mohammed Ataur Rahman, Altaf Hossain, Mahfuzul Hoque and Tamang Kiran, all from Bangladesh except the last one, a Nepalese, as well as the remaining eight sailors who was to testify on April 23. All initially face, according to the prosecutor's provisional qualification document, 13,5 years in prison. They related how on the bridge of the “Karar” there was a nautical chart with the coordinates in pencil about the unloading point. When they left their countries of origin, several of them stressed, they were unaware that the voyage was to transport drugs, but already in Panama, where they left, they knew the illicit purpose of the trip and knew that they were carrying bales of cocaine on the ship. Another crew member reported that, after several days of crossing, they loaded the drugs in front of Colombia, a task that took them one or two hours. Other defendants gave more details about this moment, such as the electrician, the only one who did not need an interpreter. To load the bales they used a crane. It was the middle of the night, they were on the high seas and several boats with the drugs approached them. The only Galician who was on board wrote down with a pen in a book and all the bundles were stored in a tank, which was closed with screws and nuts. that Blanco Gestido, he said, secured with a flange. The Nepalese Tamang Kiran was the one who had contact with the outside world through satellite phone. He was speaking with a compatriot named Lama: he is not prosecuted in the case, but, according to the statements, he was one of the leaders in the illicit operation. Settled between Panama and Colombia, he was at the meeting prior to the departure of the “Karar”. Report with photo: https://www.farodevigo.es/gran-vigo/2024/04/22/capitan-karar-confiesa-cargaron-cocaina-colombia-destino-vigo-101392831.html

Detained police officer will testify in case of drug seizure

A police officer who has been detained in Vigo and removed for possible links to drug trafficking in connection with the seizure of the 'Karar', will finally testify in the trial. The defenses, after his arrest in March, requested that he not testify for his accusations and urged Internal Affairs to clarify whether it investigated the mysterious lack of 60 kilos of cocaine among the 3,824 kilos seized from the tug. The Pontevedra Court has resolved that he will testify as he is the main witness of the National Police. The trial begins on April 17, 2024, in Vigo. The chief inspector of the National Police who served as liaison for the Ministry of the Interior in Colombia until March, was arrested in Vigo last month.

Seized tug to be put up for auction

The 'Karar', which had been intercepted 300 miles from Lisbon and 400 from Vigo, with 3,824 kilos of cocaine, in April 2020, remains stationary in the Port of Vigo, in the dock reserved for the Service Customs Surveillance, in A Laxe. The ship, before being intercepted with a shipment of cocaine valued at about 126 million Euros, already presented a deteriorated appearance, which after three years in port has been increasing. The Confiscated Bens Service of the Galician Foundation against Drug Trafficking and the Association of Prosecutors of A Coruña have been taking steps to auction it offbefore its value depreciates even more. The announcement of the tugboat was published on the official website www.subastasprocuradores.com after closing the conditions with Court number 3 of Vigo, which investigated the case. But the procedure, already in the hands of the Provincial Court, has fallen into a paralysis phase until a case filed by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office before the Superior Court of Xustiza de Galicia (TSXG) is resolved. But beyond this setback, it is a matter of time before the procedures to put the 'Karar' up for auction restart. The ship has already been appraised, with a value of 452,000 Euros, and, by law, the initial and minimum bid value will be from 50% of the appraisal. The crew members, from Nepal and Bangladesh, entered the A Lama prison, after declaring before the judge without the legal coverage of their bosses. Such was the feeling of defenselessness that they even resorted to their respective embassies in Spain to find protection.