Madrid. Spanish police knew for months that there was a risk for part of the drug haul seized aboard the Sv Nikolay Ship to disappear, Spanish El Pais daily writes, citing private sources.
"They warned us that we were going to be robbed. There is a permanent transit of people at that storage in Cádiz. But now everyone is ducking to avoid responsibilities," newspaper’s sources said.
As implausible as it may sound, the police had been aware for months that the seized drug shipment ran the risk of disappearing from under their noses, internal sources confirm. But a lack of means prevented a timely reaction, and late last month 290 kilograms of cocaine and hashish disappeared from the Cádiz warehouse where it was being stored. The thieves had the key to the place and simply walked in, taking the goods back onto market in a clean operation.
It is a cyclical problem. Andalusia and Galicia, traditional entry points for cocaine and hashish, are saturated with seized shipments that attract the attention of thieves; the drug also poses a health problem and can even represent a temptation for police officers with small salaries. Valencia, Santiago, Málaga, Seville, Cádiz... the list of cities that have suffered similar thefts keeps growing. Is there a solution?
Following the case in Cádiz, the government has now signed a protocol with the General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), the Medicine Agency and the Attorney General's Office to ensure that seized drugs are destroyed within two months. But this is no more than a recommendation, as the final decision falls to the corresponding judge. Each case is different, and judges often have to consider subsequent claims by lawyers, which means they refuse to let the goods be destroyed and instead they sit for years inside warehouses.
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