Spain’s National Police said they intercepted a merchant vessel in the Atlantic Ocean carrying nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine concealed within shipments of salt, in what authorities described on Monday as the largest maritime cocaine seizure in the force’s history.
Thirteen people were arrested as part of an international operation supported by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The Europe-bound container ship, sailing under the flag of Cameroon, was boarded last week by officers from Spain’s Special Operations Group (GEO) after departing from Brazil.
Police said 9,994 kilogrammes of cocaine were discovered hidden among the cargo in 294 separate packages.
All 13 crew members were taken into custody, and officers also seized a firearm that was allegedly used to guard the drugs. The operation was coordinated with Spain’s special anti-drugs prosecutor’s office, according to authorities.
Following the raid, the vessel ran out of fuel and was left adrift at sea for nearly 12 hours before Spain’s maritime rescue service, SASEMAR, towed it to the Canary Islands.
The investigation, codenamed White Tide, involved multiple international agencies, including the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre–Narcotics (MAOC), the DEA, the NCA, Brazil’s Federal Police, Spain’s intelligence coordination centre CITCO, and law enforcement authorities from France and Portugal.
Police said the inquiry focused on a multinational criminal network allegedly involved in exporting large-scale cocaine shipments from South America to Europe.
Authorities noted that the seizure represents the largest cocaine haul intercepted at sea since 1999, when 7,500 kilogrammes were confiscated from the vessel Tammsaare. Monday’s operation was described as a historic strike against international drug trafficking networks.
Spain’s strong historical and commercial links with Latin America have long made it a key gateway for drugs entering Europe.
In a separate case in 2024, Spanish police seized 13 tonnes of cocaine from a container ship arriving at the southern port of Algeciras from Ecuador, marking the country’s biggest-ever cocaine seizure. ALSO READ: Spanish police seize record cocaine haul in banana shipment from Ecuador.
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