The largest cocaine cache in Spain seized in Algeciras: 9.5 tons

The National Police and Customs Surveillance have seized almost 9,500 kilos of cocaine that had arrived at the port of Algeciras (Cádiz) hidden in 16 banana containers, in what is considered the largest shipment of this narcotic seized in Spain.A.Carrasco Ragel ( EFE)

Half a hundred agents of the National Police guarded this Friday morning the enormous drug shipment deposited in a ship in Algeciras after being seized in the port of the city of Cádiz: 9,436 kilograms of coacin, the largest cache ever seized in Spain, as it holds the body. Operation Nano, in which there are no detainees so far, has made it possible to trace a trail of at least 30 European criminal organizations that, according to the police, joined forces to ship this merchandise from Ecuador. It is the “most important operation in the history of Spain in the fight against cocaine,” according to the Tax Agency.

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The thousands of cocaine pills, presented in stacks, were marked with names like “Raw”, “Ok”, “Hitler”, swastikas and brands of clothing or luxury cars. In total, more than 30 logos that the researchers associate with the mafias that associated to buy the merchandise. “This means that there were several organizations that invested in the same operation, made that partial investment and organized to make a shipment,” said Alberto Morales, chief inspector of the Central Narcotics Brigade (Udyco) of the National Police. The guideline is not new and has a clear objective, summarized by the chief inspector: “They reduce risk by investing in different routes.”

The drug was hidden among a shipment of bananas, present only in the first boxes closest to the entrance of the refrigerated container and in the superficial layer of the 1,080 boxes. The cargo left Machala (Ecuador), the place where the company supposedly dedicated to the international trade of bananas is located and which investigators suspect is a cover to organize drug shipments. The criminal organization – which the police believe is responsible for supplying cocaine to the most powerful networks in Europe, but about which they have not provided further details – had an extensive business network for the shipment of maritime containers from Ecuador to Spain and other ports. Europeans.

The 9.5 tons of cocaine, distributed in tablets, stored in the port of Algeciras. National Police (EFE / National Police)

The agents searched the database for “which container equipment met the requirements” of their suspicion, as explained by Jose Carlos Arobes, deputy special delegate of the Tax Agency. After establishing the fence on 15 containers that could be suspicious, last Wednesday they found the one that was carrying the cocaine. What they did not expect is that the discovery would end up becoming “the most important in the history of Spain in the fight against cocaine”, as Arobes has specified. The cargo discovered in Algeciras was scheduled to end up in the port of Lisbon, after going through the transshipment maneuver in the Algeciras infrastructure. The agents are clear that the final destination of the cocaine was not even Spain, nor the Peninsula. “That volume of drugs cannot be admitted by a single country,” added the chief inspector of Udyco.

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The operation has been settled for now without detainees, although it remains open. The agents have even verified that the banana screen company had “some contact in Spain,” according to Morales, “which does not mean that there is evidence for his arrest.” “We will see if we can reach that port,” he said. In fact, the investigators detected that the business network had “a wide business network for the shipment of drugs from Ecuador to our country through different Spanish ports, mainly Algeciras and Vigo”, according to what the police and Customs have specified in a later statement. In any case, the chief inspector of Udyco is clear that the main responsible parties “are not in Spain”, but in those third European countries where they expected this shared carriage.

This discovery of 9.5 tons of cocaine has overcome a new barrier in the apprehensions of this drug in Spain. The previous record was held by the almost 9,000 kilos of white powder that the police also discovered in the port of Algeciras in the spring of 2018, in this case hidden in a container of bananas from Colombia, the usual source of cocaine. On that occasion, the operation uncovered a corrupt plot involving up to six detainees, one of whom was a civil guard.

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