Greek owner of cocaine-loaded vessel seized in 2023 denies charges, lawyer says

By Renee Maltezou

ATHENS (Reuters) -The Greek former owner of a cargo ship, seized by Spain in 2023 for carrying more than four tons of cocaine along with coffee beans from Latin America to Europe, denies any link to drugs, his lawyer said on Friday. 

In January 2023, Spanish authorities intercepted the then Greek-operated, Togo-flagged vessel Blume, off the Canary Islands, finding cocaine worth about $200 million on board, in one of Spain's biggest cocaine hauls that year.  

They arrested its crew and took Blume, which had left Brazil for Russia, to the island of Tenerife. 

Greece this week detained its former owner, 68, his son, 24, and a woman. On Friday, the suspects appeared before a prosecutor to respond to charges that include running an international drug trafficking group at least since 2021. 

"The main investigation and a potential trial will confirm my clients' innocence," said their lawyer Sakis Kehagioglou, adding that the crew has been convicted over the case.  

Greek authorities have not named the detainees. A fourth suspect remains at large and is presumed to be in Turkey, said court documents seen by Reuters.

Blume was monitored long before being intercepted, the documents said. British police were tipped off about the drug operation in September 2022. After scrutinising Blume's records, Spanish police concluded that it met the profile of vessels conducting ship-to-ship drug transfers.

Tenerife authorities raided it on January 18, 2023, confiscating 153 bags of cocaine in a crew member's cabin and a storage room.

Greece's probe found that the ship was bought in 2022 by Rentoor Chartering and operated by Dignatio Corp, both Marshall Islands-based companies set up by the 68-year-old suspect, a former police officer with a criminal record, the documents said. The renamed vessel was sold to a Turkish company in May.

(Reporting by Yannis Souliotis; Writing by Renee Maltezou; Editing by Sharon Singleton)