SPANISH police say they have pulled off the biggest cocaine seizure ever made by force at sea.
Authorities intercepted a cargo ship carrying almost ten tonnes of the drug hidden inside a shipment of salt off the Canary Islands.
The vessel is said to have begun its journey in Turkey, collected the drugs in Brazil, and was heading towards Spain.
Part of the illegal cargo was reportedly destined for Huelva in south-west mainland Spain, with another portion bound for the Canary Islands.
The dramatic operation unfolded in the Atlantic Ocean, where Spain’s National Police – working alongside the UK’s National Crime Agency and the US Drug Enforcement Administration – moved in on the vessel.
An elite special operations unit boarded the ship, arresting all 13 crew members and seizing a firearm in the process.
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By the time the ship was towed back to land, the sheer scale of the haul was plain for everyone to see.
At Santa Cruz de Tenerife port, rows of tightly wrapped bales were laid out on the dock beside the vessel, stark evidence of a smuggling operation of extraordinary proportions.
Police released footage showing officers marching the detained crew – Indian, Turkish and Serbian nationals – off the ship as the concealed drugs were taken away.
Investigators said the cocaine weighed just under ten tonnes and had been divided into 294 separate bales.
According to police, “it’s the largest seizure of cocaine at high sea ever made by the force”.
It eclipses the previous record set more than 25 years ago, when 7.5 tonnes were seized in a Spanish high-seas drugs bust.
Officials admitted the mission was fraught with difficulty.
Javier Plata, the central government delegate in Tenerife, said: “It was a complicated operation because at a certain point the cargo ship was drifting.”
Police sources believe a powerful Serbian crime gang was behind the shipment, attempting to move the cocaine from South America into Europe for distribution to multiple criminal organisations.
Although the interception took place last week off the small island of El Hierro, authorities kept the operation secret until now.
That delay, officials suggest, was deliberate.
It allowed them to secure the investigation before revealing what is being called a landmark blow against international drug trafficking.
This is not first time such a vast drug haul has been uncovered on the Iberian Peninsula.
Back in 2024, police carried out their biggest-ever seizure of pink cocaine and ecstasy in Ibiza and Malaga, a bust that sent shockwaves through Spain’s drug underworld.
That operation alone netted 700kg of narcotics, with an estimated street value of £21 million.
The drugs were uncovered by the Guardia Civil during coordinated raids on properties and in specially modified, double-bottomed vehicles used by the gang to smuggle the substances onto the island.