Spain seizes record 40-tonne cocaine haul in Atlantic Ocean, Civil Guard union says

Published on 04/05/2026 - 14:51 GMT+2

Spanish constabulary person impounded what is believed to beryllium a nationalist grounds haul of cocaine from a vessel successful the Atlantic Ocean, with the seizure perchance reaching 40 tonnes, a national said connected Monday.

The Civil Guard intercepted the vas successful planetary waters disconnected Spain's Canary Islands connected Friday, with astir 20 radical arrested, sources from the force's main AUGC national said.

It is estimated that "between 35 and 40 tonnes of cocaine person been seized" due to the fact that the clasp "was wholly stuffed" with bales of the drug, making it "a historical seizure," the sources said.

The boat, present being inspected successful the Canary Islands, had near Sierra Leone's superior Freetown for Benghazi successful Libya.

But the signifier of erstwhile specified operations suggests it was owed to offload the cause onto smaller vessels for organisation successful Europe due to the fact that "the unloading of this measurement of cocaine successful Libya doesn't marque overmuch sense."

"Many vessels would beryllium needed, antithetic ports, due to the fact that specified an unloading successful a azygous larboard would arouse a batch of suspicion. So the cognition is astir apt coordinated done planetary networks," the AUGC sources said.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters successful Madrid that the seizure "was 1 of the biggest, not lone nationally but internationally," without providing further details.

A tribunal bid means the probe is nether ineligible secrecy, the AUGC sources added. The Civil Guard declined to corroborate the details of the operation.

Spain's adjacent ties with Latin America and proximity to Morocco, a apical cannabis producer, marque it a cardinal introduction constituent for drugs into Europe.

In 2024, Spanish constabulary impounded 13 tonnes of cocaine from a instrumentality vessel that had arrived astatine the confederate larboard of Algeciras from Ecuador, the country's largest-ever haul of the drug.

In January, constabulary made their biggest seizure of cocaine astatine oversea from a vessel that was carrying astir 10 tonnes of the drug.