Thirty tons of cannabis resin with an estimated street value of €300 million were torched when the crew of a Tanzanian registered vessel realised they had been intercepted by Italian authorities 30 nautical miles off Malta on Friday evening.

Details of its destination were not released, but sources said the tanker was not heading to Malta.

The crew were even willing to risk their lives to destroy the precious cargo

The fire raged for hours and it took Italy’s Guardia di Finanza and the Armed Forces of Malta until yesterday afternoon to finally extinguish the blaze on board the Gold Star, which had inched to within 16 nautical miles away from the Maltese coast.

The Italian coastguard issued a press statement saying it had been monitoring the tanker for three days after it received information from its drug squad that there was a substantial amount of drugs on board.

By Friday afternoon, as the ship sailed into the Mediterranean between Capo Passero, off Syracuse, and Malta, it was surrounded by Italy’s air and naval enforcement units in a complex anti-drug mission.

Realising the authorities were about to board the tanker, the nine crew members, of Syrian and Egyptian nationalities, started a fire to destroy its “precious cargo” and then dump it in the sea.

“They were even willing to risk their lives,” the Italian coastguard said.

The alarm was immediately raised and the AFM, which received a distress call, joined Italian forces to help extinguish the fire.

The AFM dispatched three of its maritime assets – an inshore patrol vessel P23, a fast interceptor and offshore patrol vessel P52 – and a helicopter to the operational area. A rescue launch of the Civil Protection Department was also used.

The crew were safely picked up by an Italian Guardia di Finanza vessel that was close by. Until noon yesterday the AFM were still battling small fires on the superstructure of the Gold Star after it went up in flames.

Following close collaboration between the Italian and Maltese rescue coordination centres the AFM worked on stabilising and securing the ship to render it safe. Transport Malta was also monitoring the situation.

Once the operation was complete the vessel was taken to Pozzallo in Sicily.

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