Oil spill wreck carried record cargo of narcotics to Mauritius?
A local paper in Mauritius says before July 22, intelligence officers had warned of the arrival of a “record cargo’ of narcotics by sea to Mauritius.
The paper accuses ‘hierarchical bosses’ (but does not say if it is talking of mafia bosses or accomplices) urged the vessel to abandon the delivery.
The reason is the authorities were aware of the safe passage the vessel was using to deliver the drugs. The information was passed on to the drug warlords, Le Mauricien says.
That was two days before the ship wrecked on the reefs near the shores of Mauritius in the southern part of the Island.
The Mauritius Prime Minister then conceded during a Parliamentary session the vessel became a suspect vessel.
“When the vessel was six nautical miles away from our coast, MV Wakashio became a suspect vessel.”
Prime Minister Pravind Jugnauth
The newspaper says the most damning part of this story is that well before the Wakasio entered the 200 nautical mile zone of Mauritius, sources had informed the authorities a huge cargo of narcotics were entering the country via the sea.
The sources also accuse the anti-drugs agency in Mauritius of burying the matter.
The damning fact is the intelligence officers who tipped their bosses on the Wakasio were transferred to other departments on July 24.
There is also the fact the PM Jugnauth revealed in Parliament the vessel was considered suspect when it was six nautical miles from shores of Mauritius.
FIELD INTELLIGENCE OFFICERS
But no actions were taken by the authorities. The only helicopter that can fly by night was conveniently under maintenance.
The debate in on in Mauritius after the massive rally blaming the government for the death of a large number of dolphins following the oil spill is sparked by the transfer of the officers from the Field Intelligence unit.
Le Mauricien says the chiefs of this unit benefits from occult political patronage.
To explain why the National Coast Guard did not carry out a search and arrest mission, PM Jugnauth says there was “heavy swell and rough sea conditions.”
And surprisingly, among “the six helicopters only the Dhruv has night flying capabilities but could not be deployed as it was on maintenance until 7 August 2020”.
Another element mentioned by the paper is the possible removal of cargo from the ship, in all secrecy.
The paper also questions the Prime Minister on the lack of actions after he was informed of the presence of a huge cargo of narcotics in Mauritian waters.
PM Pravind Jugnauth says the National Coast Guard units would take nine hours from their base to reach the wreckage in Mahébourg in the south.
Le Mauricien asks why did the authorities not take action since they knew as from July 23 the ship was in Mauritian waters.
This information is seen on the Sea Vision Satellite Automatic Identification System, where the PM says, “it was being tracked by the National Coast Guard Operations Room”.