Spanish customs announced on Monday that they had intercepted eight tons of cocaine in the port of Algeciras (south), a shipment hidden in a container from Latin America that represents one of the country's largest seizures.
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The drug was hidden in a metal structure made of a special alloy, which was intended to trick the authorities' scanner so that only the shape of the product shown on the note could be seen in the picture, namely a generator, explains customs in a press release.
Customs says this is the first time they have encountered this method.
Despite this manipulation, the scanner discovered “a large quantity of goods” that occupied almost the entire space of the metal structure located in the container and turned out to be “cocaine of great purity” with a total weight of eight tons.
The seizure “is among the most significant carried out in Spain in recent years,” underlines the press release.
The person who was supposed to receive the drugs in Spain was arrested.
The container came from Suriname, Latin America, and had stopped in Panama.
This new seizure confirms once again that Spain is one of the main entry points for drugs into Europe, both due to its links with Latin America, where cocaine comes from, and its proximity to North Africa, where cannabis is produced. also at the center of intensive human trafficking.
In this context, two Civil Guardsmen were killed on Friday evening when the rubber boat in which they were traveling was hit by a speedboat used by a gang of drug traffickers who were pursuing them in the port of Barbate, about 70 kilometers from Algeciras . Eight people were arrested.
Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska assured on Monday that the government of socialist Pedro Sánchez will “continue to invest as much as necessary” to “fight drug trafficking” in the Strait of Gibraltar.
He also reiterated that he had no intention of “resigning” as the right and far-right had demanded, joining several police unions who have criticized the minister for not giving police forces enough resources to fight drug trafficking provides.