Three Tonnes Of Cocaine Seized In Spain

   

In a major drugs bust, Spanish police said Tuesday they had seized three tonnes of Colombian cocaine and arrested 12 suspected drug smugglers from Spain, Britain and the Netherlands.

The narcotics were seized in the northwestern region of Galicia but were bound for the south, where they were awaited by a gang of British smugglers in the Costa del Sol, police said in a statement.


Police detained seven Britons, three Dutch nationals and two Spaniards in the swoop, which was carried out on December 14 in cooperation with British and US drug enforcement agencies.

The British nationals are suspected of being the buyers of the drugs, the Dutch are believed to be the sellers while the Spaniards were detained for transporting the cocaine.

“It was a very powerful organisation. Few organisations in Europe have the capacity today to transport three tonnes of cocaine,” Eloy Quiros, head of Udyco, Spain’s national Drug and Organised Crime unit, told a news conference.

The cocaine arrived from South America by boat.Police seized 700 kilos (1,500 pounds) of the drugs hidden in a false bottom of a van which collided with a police vehicle in the middle of the chase to catch the traffickers.The rest of the drugs were found disguised in the form of wooden pallets in an industrial warehouse in Pontevedra, in Galicia.

The authorities suspect the cocaine was to have been shipped to the beach resort of Marbella.
There, it would be stored until border checks at Spain’s border with France — boosted after the Paris terrorist attacks in November — were eased, they believe.

It was the biggest cocaine haul on land in Galicia since 1999, the police statement said. As is usual practice in Spain, the estimated street value of the drugs was not given.
Police also seized 1.2 million euros ($1.3 million) in cash and a handgun
 ‘