The
Sea Paradise
odyssey began the day this rusty deep-sea tugboat was chartered in the Virgin Islands for a voyage to Europe loaded with cocaine.
The ten crew members headed to the Canary Islands, where they planned to transfer the 2,300 kilos of cocaine they were carrying to another smaller ship and the matter was resolved.
But one of the crew members, of Serbian origin, decided to hijack the ship, kill one of his cronies and lock the rest as hostages.
A strange turn in the middle of the Atlantic.
The GEO command of the National Police that was ready to assault the tugboat knew before setting sail on the
Condor
- the very fast Customs Surveillance patrol boat that was going to take them to the point - that the work was going to be very complicated: not only they had to set sail in haste and take the tug on a night boarding, their usual job;
They also had to negotiate with the kidnapper for hours, free the crew, arrest them all and locate the drugs.
All in about 15 hours.
The boarding of the tugboat was carried out in November, but the details have not been known until now, when the summary secrecy has been lifted.
The
Sea Paradise
has been rusting for almost three months at the Los Llanos dock in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, where it was taken after the police operation.
The tugboat, flying the Panama flag and having been in service for 51 years, was under the police radar due to its possible use to transport drugs.
The patrol boat 'Condor', in an image from the SVA.
The ship was controlled when it was learned that it had been loaded with 2.3 tons of cocaine in the Dominican Republic with about ten crew members on board.
A lot of people for a tug with a strange profile.
Measuring 45 meters in length and 14 meters wide, she set sail in 1973 under the Liberian flag and the name
Torquoise Bay
.
But, a few hours before the planned boarding, investigators learned (they do not clarify how) that “one of the crew members of the tugboat, of Serbian origin, had kidnapped the rest of the crew.
Furthermore, in order to take control of the boat, the kidnapper would have shot one of the men and subsequently thrown his body into the sea,” as reported by the Police in a press release this Wednesday.
The
Cóndor
(43 meters long, 23 knots...) was already ready for the assault.
A GEOS crew embarked to confront the kidnapping.
“In less than 12 hours, the intervention team was at the point in the Atlantic where the vessel was located,” the statement said.
There began a negotiation "of several hours" with the kidnapper, who was armed and, effectively, had the rest of the occupants locked up and under control.
“Thus, they managed to save the crew, who feared for their lives.”
The ship was taken to Santa Cruz.
In a remote hiding place, in a tank on the tugboat, the bales of drugs were located.
They were linked together, carried strobe lights and had flotation buoys, indicating that the cache was going to be launched for pickup by a second ship on the surface.
The
Sea Paradise
and her unique tower can be seen in Los Llanos, where she has been moored since November 13.