The unsolved mystery of the Elcano, the ship where Leonor set sail: in 2014 someone took 130 kilos of cocaine on board but the sentence did not identify the culprit
On January 11, Princess Leonor embarked on the emblematic Juan Sebastián Elcanoa ship in which he will spend five months and sail through the Atlantic and Pacific oceans and They will tour eight countries and several Spanish cities.
The training ship already has a history of almost a hundred years in which 96 promotions of future sailors of the Spanish Navy have already passed and which has given rise to a large number of anecdotes and events.
One of the last occurred in 2014, when the Civil Guard found 130 kilos of cocaine hidden after a trip to the United States. A discovery that led to the conviction of seven of the crewbut whose sentence was not able to discover who was the person who introduced the drug, according to information from ElDiario.es.
What was proven with the ruling issued last year by the Supreme Court, is that Elcano made a stopover in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia, where they introduced more than 120 kilos of cocaine and they hid in areas that were difficult to access, such as the sail locker.
The voyage continued normally, arriving at the port of New York. There, the sailors themselves who would later be convicted were in charge of selling part of the cocaine through different points, such as the Bronx, Hell’s Kitchen and Times Squareactions that were recorded by different cameras.
Neither at that port, nor at their next stop in Bueu, Galicia, were the security forces able to find the drugs. It was not until the ship’s arrival in Cádiz, where The Civil Guard managed to find the stash.
The discovery began an investigation in which more than a dozen crew members were questioned, some of them explaining that drug consumption and trafficking was common on the ship, since They traveled with almost no security controls at ports.
The Spanish agents managed to compile recordings of the accused consuming drugs on board the ship, hiding unidentified packages and even using a commemorative plaque as a tray to consume cocaine.
Meanwhile, an international investigation was being carried out by the United States and Colombia to discover the scope of the network. The US authorities identified that, in addition to the 127 kilos of cocaine, 10 kilos of heroin with a purity greater than 70%, valued at more than three million euros.
In addition, the United States Department of Justice sent a request to Spain, pointing out that the operation with the Juan Sebastián Elcano was part of a much larger drug trafficking network using military and commercial vessels.
Returning to the national level, in 2020 the investigating magistrate concluded that, although there was a “clear probability” that more people participated in the operationthere was not enough evidence to prosecute others involved. Therefore, it decided to focus solely on the proven activities of the seven defendants.
It was not until four years later that the Supreme Court handed down the sentence in which five of the crew members, four sailors and a cook, were sentenced to sentences of between one and two years in prison for admitting the facts and two corporals, who They denied the charges, received sentences of three years in prison.
The case was solved, but one unknown remained: Who had been in charge of bringing the drugs onto the ship? This question has not been answered even after the ruling was issued.
The only thing that is known is that the sailors had a contact in Colombia, a taxi driver nicknamed “Mondongo” or “Mondonguito”who was the one who offered them drugs and prostitution, as witnesses were able to confirm.
However, this individual has not been identified and there is no clear answer as to when the drug was introduced. Everything indicates that it was a light-colored pick-up truck, which was seen unloading boxes of coffee onto the ship in a unusual hours for receiving supplies.
