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Colombian Navy Seizes Two Tonnes of Cocaine Aboard CMA CGM Boxship

Cocaine
Courtesy Colombian Navy

Published Jan 28, 2026 2:46 PM by The Maritime Executive

 

Colombian authorities have intercepted and boarded a container ship in the Caribbean, seizing two tonnes of cocaine from its cargo. The capture prevents the drugs from reaching the European market, where they would fetch a premium price. 

The 6,500 TEU boxship CMA CGM Voltaire departed the port of Cartagena, Colombia at 1600 GMT on the 25th, headed on a routine voyage to Algeciras, Spain. The vessel serves on CMA CGM's Mediterranean-Caribbean rotation, serving ports as far east as Malta before returning across the Atlantic to the Caribbean islands. 

Acting on intelligence, Colombian forces tracked Voltaire throughout the early hours of her voyage and intercepted her northeast of Baranquilla. By 1000 hours GMT on the 26th, less than 24 hours after her departure, the Colombian Navy escorted her into the harbor at Santa Marta for inspection. 

The authorities discovered more than 80 bundles of cocaine bricks aboard the ship, which totaled about two tonnes - the largest Caribbean bust yet this year, according to the Colombian Navy. Images provided by the service showed that the cocaine had been stowed in cargo containers, a standard method for high-volume smuggling. 

Courtesy Colombian Navy

"This blow suffocates the finances of transnational criminal structures, protects maritime security, legal trade and Colombia’s image before the world, and prevented more than two tons of cocaine from reaching Europe," said Colombian defense minister Pedro Arnulfo Sánchez Suárez in a statement. "We continue to close routes to drug trafficking, protecting our seas and honoring the blue of our flag."

The bust followed the dramatic capture of nine tonnes of cocaine from an unusually large semisubmersible off the coast of the Azores, a joint operation conducted by Colombian, American, British and Portuguese officials. The seizure was the largest in Portuguese history. 

Colombia produces an estimated 2,500 tonnes of cocaine per year, and its cocaine economy is believed to be worth about $15 billion annually - equivalent to roughly four percent of the nation's GDP, up from two percent of GDP 20 years ago. (Colombia's government claims that UN estimates of production are inflated due to methodological issues.)