Spanish police have made the largest ever cocaine seizure at sea after finding almost 10 tonnes of the drug hidden among a cargo of salt on a merchant ship off the Canary Islands, the Guardian reports.
Anti-narcotics detectives and prosecutors investigating a multinational criminal group alleged to be exporting "huge quantities" of cocaine from South America to Europe have identified a suspect ship that set sail from Brazil, the National Police said on Monday.
Last week, members of the police's elite special operations group boarded the ship while it was 332 miles (535 km) off the Canary Islands and seized almost 300 bales of cocaine buried in a shipment of salt. Thirteen people were arrested and the ship, which had run out of fuel, was towed to the port of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.
Video footage of the operation shows officers using shovels to remove wrapped bales from a large amount of salt in the ship's belly.
The operation, called "White Tide," was carried out in cooperation with the Brazilian Federal Police, the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), the UK's National Crime Agency, as well as French and Portuguese authorities.
"Thanks to this joint effort, members of the National Police seized 9.994 kg of cocaine packed in 294 packages hidden among the tons of salt the ship was transporting, as well as firearms used by the gang to protect the shipment," the Spanish police said in a statement, according to the Guardian.
The statement added that this represents a decisive blow to international criminal networks involved in maritime cocaine trafficking.
"...demonstrating the effectiveness of international police cooperation in combating global drug trafficking – and once again highlighting the ability of the National Police to successfully act against criminal organizations with a global reach," it writes.
The previous record for the largest quantity of cocaine seized at sea by police was 7,5 tons, found on a fishing boat in July 1999.
In 2024, Spanish police and customs intercepted the largest known shipment of cocaine to arrive in the country, seizing more than 13 tons of the drug hidden in a shipment of bananas transported by container from Ecuador.
Spanish authorities seized a total of 123 tons of cocaine in 2024, an increase from 118 tons in 2023 and 58 tons in 2022.
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