Malta Fish Farming Company Named As Suppliers In Illegal Tuna Trade
Malta Fish Farming Ltd. (MFF) has been named as “one of the suppliers of tuna illegally caught and fattened” in the country.
Leaked Spanish Police documents published by El Confidencial claim that MFF transported illegal tuna to Spain through Italy and then Marseilles in France.
Sources are also quoted as saying that “smugglers used catamarans and speedboats,” to move the goods between the countries
Madrid Airport was used as the point of entry to introduce the highest quality bluefin tuna by falsifying documents known as ‘eBCD’ (electronic bluefin tuna catch document) which is crucial to ascertaining the traceability of the fish from its capture until its arrival to the consumer.
Leaked Police documents alleging MFF involvement
Central to the claims is a certain Khalid Mouslim, a Moroccan national identified as the “lieutenant” of two Valencian companies, Pescnort Mar SL and Marfishval SL, that imported illegal tuna from Malta by plane and road.
The two companies, owned by the same Spanish family ‘Fernandez’, have invoiced more than 23 million euros to one another.
MFF ltd., owned by former Elbros owner Saviour Ellul, has “categorically” denied to El Confidencial that the company was “ever involved in the smuggling of illegal fish from Malta to Spain”.
El Confidencial previously reported how Fisheries Director General Andreina Fenech Farrugia allegedly solicited bribes from Mare Blu tuna farm in return for higher fish quotas.
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