Gianluigi Aponte (shown with wife)—net worth around $9 billion
The MSC Gayane, MSC Carlotta, and MSC Desiree had until recently been owned by SinOceanic Shipping, a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Chinese HNA group, which sold the MSC Desiree and the MSC Gayane to Blue Star Shipping and JP Morgan last year. SinOceanic still had responsibility for providing crew and management services to all three ships. And HNA Group desperately needed the money, as it teetered on the edge of bankruptcy….
“Durasevic used the ship’s crane to load cocaine in bags onto the ship from a flotilla of go-fast speedboats. after the MSC Guyane left the port of Barranquilla, Peru.”
“Crew members used the Gayane’s crane to hoist cargo nets full of cocaine onto the vessel and then stashed the drugs in various shipping containers, “said the plea filing by Penda, who was part of the team bringing the drugs aboard….
“The crew received a prepared story in case they got caught, normal procedure for drug cartels and their mules.” “All and all, not so bizarre, except to the uninitiated. The crew are lying, and in lying to protect their superiors from sanction, their families get paid while they take the heat and do time.” In Kotor, Montenegro where most of the crewmen are from, they don’t believe the story either….
“US Customs just seized a ship owned by JPMorgan (assets $2.535 trillion) after authorities found $1 billion worth of drugs on it,” reported Business Insider. Dutifully, Business Insider also reported: “It is operated by the Switzerland-based Med Shipping Co.” https://www.madcowprod.com/2020/09/22/cia-law-order-u-s-attorney-20-tons-cocaine/
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Their company MSC has become the second-largest shipping line inthe world by vessel capacity, just behind global leader AP Møller Maersk. In 2014, Gianluigi retired as CEO and became chairman. His son Diego took over until MSC tapped former Maersk COO Soren Toft as CEO in November 2019. https://www.forbes.com/profile/gianluigi-rafaela-aponte/#28868949108c
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The MSC Gayane was built in 2018 and has a capacity of 11,600 twenty-foot equivalent units. At the time of the drug raid, it was calling on the west coast of South America in Callao, Peru, and Buenaventura, Colombia; transiting the Panama Canal; then calling in Cristobal in Panama, Freeport in the Bahamas, and Philadelphia; then crossing the Atlantic to Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
The new court filing, which is based on Penda’s “direct knowledge of and participation in the bulk-cocaine smuggling scheme,” alleges that at least eight of just over 20 crewmembers on board — or at least a third of the crew — were personally involved. Four of the co-conspirators were allegedly recruited in Montenegro prior to joining the ship….
No allegations were made against Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), founded by billionaire Gianluigi Aponte, the second-largest liner operator in the world. MSC thanked U.S. authorities and pledged full cooperation. https://www.freightwaves.com/news/cracking-the-case-of-the-containerized-coke
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This was the third drug bust of 2019 on a ship operated by Mediterranean Shipping Company. https://www.thefix.com/italian-billionaire-ship-cocaine
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2017. In recent years the Sicilian Mafia have been caught involved in trafficking Africans into Italy and Europe and then extorting them. The MSC is relevant because it is covertly working with some high level mafias and involved with drugs, weapons, and human trafficking. Recently in 2017 MSC purchased 49% of Ignazio Messina & C. which is a Genova based shipping and container company. Pontus was a Greek name for bridge and also for sea and specifically the Mediterranean Sea. Through their control over ports they are able to bridge their criminal networks together. https://www.reddit.com/r/conspiracy/comments/706265/aponte_pirates_human_traffickers/
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The network is said to have brought roughly two tons of the drug into Germany between September 2017 and April 2018.
German customs has confiscated a record 4.5 metric tons (5 short tons) of cocaine in a shipping container in Hamburg, northern Germany, with a street value of nearly €1 billion ($1.1 billion). The shipment was being transported from Montevideo in Uruguay, via Hamburg, to Antwerp, Belgium.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/germany-cocaine-bust-hamburg-drug-uruguay-montevideo/
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2-12-19 The public prosecutor's office in the Bavarian city of Landshut has brought charges against eight men suspected of being part of a large-scale Albanian cocaine smuggling network. It appears the group's headquarters were in Hamburg, where one of the main suspects, 21-year-old Dario L., had rented a safe house. Investigators found delivery orders for bananas in the apartment. Dario L. is said to have organized the logistics, 25-year-old Klajdi D. is suspected of having headed the burglary teams and 40-year-old Alberto K. is said to have masterminded the entire group. Apparently the police watched some of the men staking out the ripening rooms, as well as their regular meetings in a Hamburg cafe. https://www.dw.com/en/germany-charges-banana-crate-cocaine-suspects-in-landmark-case/a-47482013
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