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U.S. authorities have seized the Swiss cargo ship MSC Gayane, three weeks after investigators found about $1 billion worth of cocaine – 32,000 to 35,000 pounds – in some of its containers.
“The MSC Gayane is the largest vessel seized in U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s 230-year history and follows the record seizure of almost 20 tons of cocaine discovered on the vessel,” said Casey Durst, CBP’s Director of Field Operations in Baltimore, in a statement Monday. “Seizing a vessel of this size is an unusual enforcement action for CBP, but is indicative of the serious consequences associated with an alleged conspiracy by crew members and others to smuggle a record load of dangerous drugs through the United States.”
It was the largest cocaine haul in U.S. history, prosecutors said at the time. They also left the door open for possible forfeiture of the ship, the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement.
“A seizure of a vessel this massive is complicated and unprecedented – but it is appropriate because the circumstances here are also unprecedented,” U.S. Attorney William McSwain said in the statement. “When a vessel brings such an outrageous amount of deadly drugs into Philadelphia waters, my office and our agency partners will pursue the most severe consequences possible against all involved parties in order to protect our district – and our country.”
No action has been taken against Swiss-based Mediterranean Shipping Corp., but the company in the wake of the seizure issued a statement assuring shippers that their cargo was being rerouted and would be delivered.
“MSC is assisting and cooperating in any possible way with the authorities and is not the target of the investigation,” the shipping company said in a statement Tuesday.
Built just last year, the $90 million ship can hold 10,000 containers, according to The Wall Street Journal. It’s currently anchored at the Delaware River, where it is destined to stay for the foreseeable future, the Journal reported.
The ship had been en route to Europe when it was detained in Philadelphia, and was scheduled to stop at Rotterdam, Antwerp and Le Havre, MSC said.
“Aside from a small number of containers, which have been held by the authorities as part of their ongoing investigations, all cargoes on the MSC Gayane have been transshipped to other MSC vessels and sent on to their respective destinations,” the company said.
The ship’s crew were arrested during the June seizure and charged with drug-trafficking offenses.
The Gayane sails under the Liberian flag and had made calls in the Bahamas, Panama, Peru and Colombia before Philadelphia, NPR reported.
The ship started its voyage in Chile, the Wall Street Journal reported.