April Fools Day Cocaine Smuggling Passengers Arrested (see video below) – On Monday, March 25, 2019 at 0700 hours, when MSC Cruises ship MSC Opera arrived in Funchal, Madeira, Judicial Police seized 15-20 kilos of cocaine.
The cocaine had a high degree of purity and quantity that could amount to about 200,000 individual doses, that is, anything like 100 kilos of narcotic product. The cocaine seized had a street value estimated at more than $2 million, which was being smuggled in ceramic bowls and fried snack bags by a dozen people, ages between 20 and 52 years.
Six of those arrested, were passengers aboard MSC Opera, which was scheduled to disembark on April Fool’s day in Venice, Italy. The other six had recently travelled to Madeira, where it is suspected they were due to meet the ship when it docked.
MSC Opera had departed from Havana, Cuba on March 12, 2019, calling at Philipsburg, St. Maarten; St Johns, Antigua; Funchal, Madeira; Malaga, Spain; Alicante, Spain; La Valletta, Malta; Dubrovnik, Croatia with disembarking to be at Venice, Italy on April Fool’s Day, April 1, 2019.
Public Security Police Madeira Regional Command
The Public Security Police (PSP) was established in Madeira Islands in 1878. Its overall responsibilities are ensuring democratic legality, safeguarding internal security and the rights of its citizens in accordance with the constitution and laws of Portugal. The PSP is commanded by a National Director responsible to the Minister of Internal Affairs.
Its duties, defined in law, are diverse and include protection of key points, diplomatic protection, security of major events, traffic policing, private security and firearms licensing, crime prevention, investigation of crime, airport security and protection of persons and property within all the Portuguese Islands.
The Judiciary Police were assisted by Britain’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
About The National Crime Agency
The National Crime Agency, also known as the NCA, is a crime-fighting law enforcement agency responsible for leading the United Kingdom’s fight to cut serious and organised crime.
It is the United Kingdom’s lead agency against organised crime; human, weapon and drug trafficking; cyber crime; and economic crime that goes across regional and international borders, but can be tasked to investigate any crime.
Article Resources:
- Live Cruise Ship Tracker MSC Opera
- Cruise Ship Cameras – MSC Opera Bow Cam
- Webcams in Europe
- Webcams in Caribbean
Recent Cruise Cocaine Arrests:
- Oceania Riviera Crew Underwear Shoes Smuggled Cocaine
- Passenger Caught Halloween Trick Or Treating With Full Cocaine Candy Bag
- Sea Princess Passengers Plead Guilty Smuggling 95 kilograms Cocaine
- Norwegian Escape Crew Cocaine Smuggling Arrest
- Corpus Christi USCBP Seizes 3800 Pounds Cocaine
Video: PJ seized 100 kilos of cocaine transported to Funchal on a cruise from the Caribbean
