Anti-drug operation nets 4 tonnes

Spanish and Moroccan police have netted close to four tonnes of cocaine with a street value of over 100 million euros and arrested 40 people in a long-term anti-trafficking operation, Spain's interior ministry said Friday.

The ministry said that 1.3 tonnes of the drug and more than 13 million euros in cash had been seized in Spain since the launch of the joint operation last year.

Morocco's DGST domestic intelligence service meanwhile said it had seized 2.6 tonnes of cocaine in the joint operation, which had input from US, Italian and German law enforcement agencies.

Madrid said the operation had "dismantled a major criminal organisation based in Spain and Morocco, directed from Venezuela by a wanted Spanish national".

In all, 34 men and six women of Spanish, British and Moroccan nationalities were arrested as part of the operation.

One Spanish national was detained in Germany "while trying to flee to Venezuela", the ministry said.

It added that the amount of cocaine seized could have been sold in Spain for "more than 103 million euros ($120 million).

Spain is a main entry point for cocaine in Europe, and the busts are some of the biggest in recent years.

In May, Spanish authorities said they had intercepted a boat carrying 2.4 tonnes of cocaine in the Atlantic.

And three tonnes of the drug were seized in December 2015 in the northern region of Galicia and Spain's Mediterranean Costa del Sol.

source: AFP