More Information About Operation Albatros
7 Jan 2016 1 Comment
TCSG Umut towing M/V Joudi. Photo: Turkish Coast Guard
The ships, taking part in Operation Albatos, the seizure of the Bolivian flagged cargo ship M/V Joudi have returned to Aksaz Naval Base.
More details about the Operation Albatros has emerged.The 13600 kilogram marijuana with a street value of 250 million USD was loaded to the ship in Tartus in Syria. All ports in Syria are controlled by the Mr Assad’s regime.
On 2 January 2015 the ship was spotted by a Turkish Coast Guard plane and was tracked. In the mean time the off shore patrol vessels TCSG Yaşam and TCSG Umut left their ports and proceeded to intercept the ship. During the transit of these cutters Turkey contacted Bolivia the flag state of the ship according to United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic In Narcotic Drugs And Psychotropic Subtances, article 17. After Bolivia has granted Turkey the right for the seizure.
On 5 January 2015 Turkish cutters closed on the target and demanded the cargo ship to stop allowed to be boarded. When M/V Joudi did not cooperated she found herself at the receiving end of the cutters powerful water cannon. But this was not enough to stop the ship. The vessel boarding search and seizure team had to fast rope to the ship.
After the ship was totally under control, narcotic detection dogs were brought on board. The stash was found inside one of the containers in the cargo bay.
This video shows the breefing on board of TCSG Yaşam today by the Commander of Turkish Coast Guard Rear Admiral Hakan Üstem:
This video is a complation of videos taken by the coast guard crew taken part in the operation:
turkishnavy.net 
Reblogged this on J. Kevin Brent and commented:
This story will probably not ever be aired by news media. As this blog post points out, all Syrian ports are and have remained under the control of forces loyal to President Bashar Assad, where this drug ship departed from. Those ports were also still under Assad’s control when ships were running weapons from Libya to Syria prior to the Benghazi attack. The Syrian Army had plenty of and better weapons than anything on those ships. So, that leaves the question of precisely who Assad was funneling those weapons to after they arrived in his ports. I’d be willing to bet it was group which name starts with an “I”.