The Spanish National Police and the Guardia Civil are investigating the theft of a possible total of 80 M/T tons of tuna from the company Atunes Del Maresme, located within the duty free zone of the port of Cadiz, in the South of Spain. As part of the investigation one person was arrested; an employee of Atunes Del Maresme.
Apparently, the arrest took place Monday night, after the director of the company in Cadiz caught the man red handed. He could well be the leading person in the plot that since last November has been stealing tuna from the company. The director was able to catch the man thanks to live video footage on his smartphone coming from security cameras throughout the company premises. The footage enabled him to witness, together with another officer of the company, how the detainee fled the scene after trying to access the warehouse by forcing the locks to steal approximately another 20 to 30 tons of tuna.
As of the first time merchandise started disappearing, security officials of Atunes Del Maresme changed the locks impeding access to the warehouse. The witnesses immediately contacted the Guardia Civil, who then alerted officials at the checkpoint exit of the Duty Free Zone, where the thief was apprehended.
However, sources close to the company confirmed that Monday’s 20 or 30 tons of tuna were only the latest of thefts, as the continuous robbery had started back in November and had already built up to the disappearance of a total of between 70 and 80 tons of fish of various kinds, with a final market value of the close to Euro 600,000 or USD 800.000, considering that this concerns high-end tuna products.
