The owner of a commercial Galician (Spain) fishing company, Jose Nogueira Garcia, was recently arrested for attempting to smuggle 2.2 tons of cocaine to Spain. Nogueira Garcia’s fishing company, Sabarigo Mar, and their fishing vessel Cibeles, have been under scrutiny since 2004 because of alleged engagement in illegal fishing, says Oceana, an international organization that fights to protect fish stocks.

In a release, Oceana reported that Nogueira Garcia used fishing vessels and containers with frozen fish to transfer the cocaine. The market value would have been more than 70 million Euro. Sabarigo Mar has also been linked to Mafia Gallega, a group of fishing companies engaged in “pirate fishing.” They originated from Galicia in Spain, and now mostly operate from South Africa, Namibia and Uruguay.

In general, fishing vessels and containers with frozen fish are ideal to smuggle drugs. Controls and inspections are lax in large European ports like the one in Vigo, Spain. Only six fisheries inspectors were responsible for the control of more than 880,000 tons of fish during 2007.

In 2005, Cibeles made environmental headlines for its destructive practice of fishing for depleted stocks of Portuguese dogfish, gulper sharks and anglerfish. These deepwater sharks are mainly caught for their liver oil, which is an expensive ingredient for cosmetics.