Turkey’s Ministry of Internal Affairs responded to last week’s capture of a Turkish-owned cargo ship involved in drug smuggling promising cooperation with the ongoing investigation by Spanish and French forces. A Turkish-owned cargo ship drew the attention of the authorities after it embarked on what the Spanish authorities termed a unique “uneconomical” voyage.

Working together as part of an ongoing operation in the Mediterranean and Atlantic, Spanish and French authorities apprehended the Ras while the vessel was 130 miles from Lanzarote. Built in 1994, the cargo ship is 2,500 dwt and 230 feet (70 meters) and is currently registered in Tanzania. According to databases, the ship appears to have changed owners in July 2024.

Spain’s police and tax authority reports it was attracted to the vessel because of the unique nature of its movements, something the Turkish authorities are also confirming after the investigation. Spanish and French forces patrolling in the region were alerted to the ship after an EU monitoring operation based in Lisbon and Spanish forces detected the movements of the ship.

“On this occasion, investigators were struck by the fact that the cargo ship was undertaking an uneconomical voyage, having set sail from Turkey, sailed across the Mediterranean to the Atlantic front, then to Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau without having loaded or unloaded any merchandise and, after carrying out erratic maneuvers, heading for the Iberian Peninsula,” stated the Spanish authorities.

The Special Operations patrol boat Petrel of Spain’s Customs Surveillance Service and the French customs patrol boat DPF-3 intercepted the Ras on October 4. Aboard they found a crew of 10 consisting of seven Turkish nationals including the captain, two Azerbaijani nationals, and one Dutch citizen. All of them were initially detained and questioned and now have been arrested as part of the ongoing investigation.