Malta police go to Europol to discuss tuna racket probe

Police officers on Wednesday travelled to the Europol headquarters in the Hague to discuss developments in the tuna laundering racket, Times of Malta has learnt. Police sources said the main aim of the visit was to request assistance in the hope of collaborating with the Spanish authorities and get their hands on evidence to facilitate their own investigations. “A magistrate has been looking into the matter for several months. However, there is not much that can be done without the necessary evidence,” sources close to the Maltese investigation team said. A total of 79 people were arrested last October in an EU-wide operation Europol dubbed Tarantelo. The international operation was conducted by the Spanish Guardia Civil with the support of the French, Italian, Maltese and Portuguese authorities. The authorities also seized more than 80,000 kilos of bluefin tuna as part of the crackdown on the illegal trade of the fish. Although the fish was mostly sold in the Spanish market, it was caught in and around Maltese waters and fattened in Malta-based pens. Read: Promotion of suspended fisheries director ordered by OPM The sources said the Malta police had received no cooperation from...