The Spanish National Police said on Wednesday that they had seized 13 tonnes of cocaine – the country’s largest-ever haul of the drug – and that they had made one arrest.
Police and customs agents intercepted the cocaine in the southern port of Algeciras on 14 October from a container ship that had arrived from Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, a drug-trafficking hub.
The ship carried crates of bananas that concealed identically designed boxes containing the cocaine, and intelligence from Ecuadoran police tipped off the Spanish authorities, national police said in a statement.
A woman believed to be a partner of the importing company was arrested in the central Spanish city of Toledo and two other suspects are on the run, police said.
Spain is a main entry point for drugs into Europe because of its close ties with former colonies in Latin America and its proximity to Morocco, a top cannabis producer.
Massive hauls of drugs have been hidden in banana shipments throughout Europe before. In February, British authorities said they had found more than 12,500 pounds of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas, shattering the record for the biggest single seizure of hard drugs in the country.
Last August, customs agents in the Netherlands seized 17,600 pounds of cocaine found hidden inside crates of bananas in Rotterdam’s port. Three months before that, a police dog sniffed out 3 tonnes of cocaine stashed in a case of bananas in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.
🚩Interceptado en #Algeciras el mayor alijo en la historia del narcotráfico en #España
🔹Se ha contado con la cooperación de la @PoliciaEcuador y supone, además, la segunda mayor incautación en #Europa en un solo contenedor así como una de las mayores a nivel mundial
🔹5… pic.twitter.com/u89RHzGkAl
— Policía Nacional (@policia) November 6, 2024
🚨🚔Hoy hemos presentado en #Algeciras la operación policial que ha interceptado el mayor alijo en la historia del #narcotrafico en 🇪🇸 y segundo en la de 🇪🇺
🔵 13 Toneladas de #cocaína que no han llegado a las calles 👏#SomosTuPolicía https://t.co/D9xoBb14Ry pic.twitter.com/pI1HfCRwrr
— Policía Nacional (@policia) November 6, 2024
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