Spanish police introduced on Monday their largest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea after impounding a Europe-bound container ship within the Atlantic Ocean carrying virtually 10 tons of the drug.
Officers final week raided the Cameroon-flagged vessel, which had left Brazil, seizing 9,994 kilograms (22,033 kilos) of cocaine hid in 294 packages in a cargo of salt, police stated in a assertion.
They arrested the 13 crew members and seized a firearm used to guard the stash in an operation involving U.S., Brazilian, U.Okay., French and Portuguese authorities, the assertion added.
Police launched a 4-minute video on social media exhibiting officers on a velocity boat intercepting the alleged drug-trafficking ship and a number of suspects being escorted off the vessel and into custody. The footage additionally reveals U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration brokers on the scene, the place officers are seen digging by way of mounds of salt to uncover the alleged medication.
“This operation, dubbed White Tide, represents the biggest cocaine seizure on the excessive seas ever made by the Nationwide Police,” the assertion stated.
The ship ran out of gas and remained adrift within the water for nearly 12 hours earlier than being towed to the Canary Islands, police stated.
Spanish Nationwide Police
“This represents a decisive blow to worldwide legal networks concerned in maritime cocaine trafficking, demonstrating the effectiveness of worldwide police cooperation within the combat towards international drug trafficking,” police stated in a press release.
Spain’s shut ties with Latin America and proximity to Morocco, a high hashish producer, make it a key entry level for medication into Europe.
Final October, Spanish police seized 6.5 tons of cocaine and arrested 9 individuals after a U.S. tip-off led them to raid a ship off the Canary Islands.
In June 2025, police forces dismantled a drug trafficking ring that used what authorities referred to as high-speed “narco boats” to smuggle massive portions of cocaine from Brazil and Colombia to the Canary Islands. The ring allegedly used an deserted shipwreck as a refueling platform for the speedboats.
In 2024, Spanish police impounded 13 tons of cocaine from a container ship that had arrived on the southern port of Algeciras from Ecuador, the nation’s largest-ever haul of the drug.
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