Spanish police break up gang that used swimmers to cover cocaine on ships | Spain

Spanish police have arrested 30 folks and seized nearly 2.5 tonnes of cocaine after breaking apart a prison community that used groups of younger swimmers to cover the medicine on shifting, Europe-bound ships which have been then attacked and relieved of their unwitting cargo earlier than reaching port.

The 15-month investigation started in October 2024 when Policía Nacional officers discovered 88kg of cocaine in a automobile within the southern Spanish city of Mijas. The medicine led them to 3 gangs, together with a Balkan cartel, who have been working collectively to convey large portions of cocaine into Spain from Colombia.

“The gangs used the so-called ‘monkey’ technique to get the shipments of cocaine into maritime containers that were being transported on container ships,” the power mentioned in an announcement on Thursday.

“The drug-trafficking technique involves using youngsters from poor backgrounds who are good swimmers to get the drugs on to ships while they’re at sea.

“Members of the same organisation then headed to Spain in order to get to the containers by intercepting the ships carrying them before they reached the strait of Gibraltar.”

One such try was thwarted in the course of final yr when a ship sure for the port of Cádiz knowledgeable the maritime rescue service that it had discovered stowaways on its deck, resulting in the seizure of a container through which 1.4 tonnes of cocaine had been stashed. The stowaways turned out to be three males tasked with recovering the medicine, who then fled.

Not lengthy after, a ship passing by means of Portuguese waters reported armed stowaways on board. But the lads managed to unload bundles of cocaine that had been hidden in a container and hand them to their accomplices earlier than evading the authorities.

In the autumn of final yr, officer got here throughout 5 males – three Colombians and two Spain-based members of the Balkan cartel – who have been utilizing speedboats and the “drop-off” methodology to gather their medicine.

“This method involves throwing the merchandise from a merchant ship for collection by smaller vessels near the destination country, subduing the ship’s crew and extracting the drugs from inside the containers, using military techniques and weapons of war,” the assertion added.

The medicine have been then hidden in cities and villages alongside the Gulf of Cádiz and later transported by street to different European nations.

As nicely as confiscating 2,475kg of cocaine and varied assault weapons in the course of the operation, police seized boarding ladders, nautical tools, eight high-end autos, greater than €166,000 (£144,000) in money and watches, and jewelry price €100,000.

On Monday the Policía Nacional introduced its largest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea after officers discovered nearly 10 tonnes of the drug hidden amid a cargo of salt on a service provider ship off the Canary Islands.