Spanish special forces have seized nearly 10 tons of cocaine on a freighter coming from Brazil in the Atlantic Ocean, authorities said on Monday.
They said this is the largest cocaine seizure on the high seas in the history of the Spanish National Police. The ship was intercepted and boarded 290 nautical miles (just under 540 kilometres) west of the Canary Islands.
All 13 crew members, who are reportedly from India and Serbia, were detained, the statement said. A firearm was also confiscated.
The cocaine was reportedly hidden in a shipment of salt. According to the statement, the historic blow against the South American cocaine mafia took place last week.
The Spanish forces were assisted in their investigations by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), to which Germany and other European countries belong, and the authorities in France, Britain and Portugal.
The ship was taken to the port of Santa Cruz in Tenerife, where it has been anchored since Sunday afternoon. According to Spanish media reports citing National Police spokesmen, no other European country has ever achieved such a major cocaine bust on the high seas. Scenes of the operation can be seen in a video released by the Spanish police.
According to official findings, Spain is increasingly becoming one of the most important gateways for the South American cocaine trade in Europe.
In October, special police units seized 6.5 tons of cocaine on a freighter in the Atlantic.
“The whole of Europe is currently being flooded with cocaine, and Spain plays an important role as a gateway to the continent,” Joan Ramón VillalbÃ, the government commissioner for Spain’s National Drug Plan, told Spanish lawmakers last year.