Spanish police stated Wednesday that that they had seized 13 tons of cocaine — the nation’s largest-ever haul of the drug — and made one arrest.
Police and customs brokers intercepted the cocaine within the southern port of Algeciras on October 14 from a container ship that had arrived from Ecuador’s largest metropolis Guayaquil, a drug-trafficking hub.
The ship carried crates of bananas that hid identically designed bins containing the cocaine, and intelligence from Ecuadoran police tipped off the Spanish authorities, nationwide police stated in a information launch.
Jon Nazca / REUTERS
A girl believed to be a accomplice of the importing firm was arrested within the central Spanish metropolis of Toledo and two different suspects are on the run, police stated.
Spain is a primary entry level for medicine into Europe due to its shut ties with former colonies in Latin America and its proximity to Morocco, a prime hashish producer.
Large hauls of medicine have been hidden in banana shipments all through Europe earlier than. In February, British authorities stated that they had discovered greater than 12,500 kilos of cocaine hidden in a cargo of bananas, shattering the document for the largest single seizure of laborious medicine within the nation. Final August, customs brokers within the Netherlands seized 17,600 kilos of cocaine discovered hidden inside crates of bananas in Rotterdam’s port. Three months earlier than that, a police canine sniffed out 3 tons of cocaine stashed in a case of bananas within the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.
