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ose ‘Pepe’ Grinda Gonzalez, a senior Spanish investigator, is alleged to have told US officials in Madrid in January that the curious case of the Malta-flagged ship represented “a clear example” of arms trafficking, with the upper echelons of Russian politics implicated.

The claim was made in a leaked cable in which Gonzalez, Spain’s national court prosecutor who has been investigating the Russian mafia for a decade, alleged wider collusion between the Russian government and organised crime syndicates in Russia which are said to do the Kremlin’s dirty work.

But the specific claim regarding the Arctic Sea was highlighted in the Guardian’s publication of the cable which refers to the Spanish investigator by the first part of his surname.

“Grinda said that according to information he has received from intelligence services, witnesses and phone taps, certain political parties in Russia operate “hand in hand” with OC [organized crime].