Spain seizes record 13-tonne cocaine haul in Algeciras

Spanish police and customs officers seized over 13 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Algeciras, the single largest haul of the drug in the country’s history and one of the largest on record anywhere in the world.

The drugs were stashed among a consignment of bananas from Ecuador and were discovered on October 14, although details of the operation were not confirmed until yesterday.

Spain’s previous record seizure was also made in Algeciras in August 2023, when police found 9.4 tonnes of cocaine in a similar shipment from Ecuador.

"It is obvious that these 13 tonnes of cocaine were not only bound for the Spanish market,” Antonio Jesus Martinez, head of the Central Narcotics Brigade of the Policia Nacional, told reporters.

“The Spanish market cannot handle so many drugs all at once. This drug was intended to be distributed throughout Europe.”

In the latest case, officers became suspicious when a container arrived in Algeciras from the port of Guayaquil, in Ecuador, that had been shipped by an exporter previously linked to the drugs trade.

On arrival in the Spanish port, the container was scanned and officers found discrepancies between the declared cargo and the contents.

The container was opened and the drugs found behind a screen of boxes containing bananas.

Several properties and offices in Madrid and Alicante were raided as part of the operation, in which one person was arrested.

Two managers in charge of the company that imported the shipment into Spain are on the run, police said in the statement.

Police in Ecuador cooperated closely with Spanish authorities and alerted them with details of the shipment.