Spanish customs officers said on Wednesday that they have seized over eight tonnes of hashish on the island of Ibiza – the biggest ever bust of the drug in the Balearic Islands.
Officers of the ‘Servicio de Vigilancia Aduanera’ of Spain’s Customs Agency (Agencia Tributaria) in Ibiza were on a routine patrol when they came across three vans that were driving with their lights off. The incident occurred overnight on Sunday on a road linking the village of Sant Joan de Labritja in the north of the island to the beach, the tax office said in a statement.
The drivers of the three vans ‘braked abruptly’ causing their vehicles to collide, and their occupants fled on foot, the statement said, adding the suspects remained unaccounted for.
Customs agents then found 216 bags containing 8.3 tonnes of hashish inside the vans, the ‘biggest seizure of hashish ever carried out in the Balearic Islands’, the statement said.
The customs agency said the seizure surpasses the intervention of the vessel Sol de España, intercepted in 2001 in Cala Ratjada, Ibiza, which was transporting 7,700 kilos of hashish.
The authorities suspect the traffickers were using Ibiza as a temporary reception for hashish which they then distributed across Europe.
Customs agents have observed a rise in hashish snuggling in the Mediterranean, especially in the Balearics, the statement said. The drugs are usually transported to the archipelago aboard ‘ultrafast’ inflatable boats.
Spain’s proximity to North Africa, a key source of hashish, and its close ties with former colonies in Latin America, the world’s main cocaine-producing region, have made it a portal for drug-smuggling into Europe.
La Agencia Tributaria ha intervenido en Ibiza un alijo récord en Baleares de 8.300 kilos de hachís
— Ministerio de Hacienda y Función Pública (@Haciendagob) October 25, 2023
🚛Descubrieron en la madrugada del lunes tres furgonetas que transportaban la droga tras alijar en una cala del norte de Ibizahttps://t.co/ant9jMOvr1 pic.twitter.com/DuouA9jJ9t
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