Ten Colombians on Tanzanian ship. Yo-ho-ho and packs of nicotine
What were the ten men from Colombia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Panama doing aboard a Tanzanian ship caught sailing with illegal consignments of narcotic drugs?
They were sailing across the Panama Canal on a Multipurpose Sea vessel FMS Eagle which is a Tug carrying a Tanzanian flag, with a call sign 5IM202.
Recently, the El Salvador’s navy announced the largest drug seizure in the country’s history of 6.6 tons of cocaine.
Apparently, the navy had intercepted a 180-foot sea vessel, reportedly registered to Tanzania, sailing some 380 miles southwest of the coast.
Navy divers found 330 packages of cocaine hidden in the ship’s ballast tanks.
Ten men were arrested from Colombia, Nicaragua, Panama and Ecuador.
The Eagle has landed
On Thursday, the 25th of February 2026, the Salvadoran authorities gave access to the seized ship FMS Eagle, which had just arrived in the port of La Union.
Images released by the navy showed more than 200 wrapped bundles lined up on the tug’s deck.
The Trump administration has pressured Mexico to make more drug seizures over the past year.
The trafficking of drugs like fentanyl was the president’s justification for tariffs on Mexican imports.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum has responded with a more aggressive stance toward drug cartels than her predecessor, which has included sending dozens of drug trafficking prisoners to the United States for prosecution, including 37 individuals last month.
Sheinbaum has also expressed her disagreement with strikes by the U.S. military in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean against boats suspected of carrying drugs.
At least 145 people have been killed in those strikes since the U.S. government began targeting those it calls “narco-terrorists” in September 2025.
The U.S. strikes this week included two vessels carrying four people each in the eastern Pacific Ocean and another boat in the Caribbean carrying three people.
The administration provided images of the boats being destroyed, but not evidence they were carrying drugs.
Earlier this week, the U.S. Coast Guard seized over 2,000 pounds of cocaine while attempting to intercept a boat that was trafficking drugs off Puerto Rico.
The crew of the alleged drug-ferrying boat “began evasive maneuvers” before throwing their cargo overboard and fleeing, the Coast Guard said.