Walter Finch
SPANISH police have found over a tonne of cocaine from a cargo ship sailing to Malaga, after intelligence revealed that drug traffickers had stowed away on board to retrieve the stash mid-voyage.
The dramatic operation unfolded on Wednesday night, when the Guardia Civil intercepted the vessel some 60 kilometres off the coast of Cádiz, escorting it into port for inspection.
Once docked, officers discovered 38 tightly packed bales of cocaine – weighing a combined 1,300 kilos – concealed near containers on the upper deck.
Investigators believe the cocaine was loaded earlier in the journey and that criminals boarded the vessel in open waters, intending to remove the drugs from the containers and transfer them to another boat under cover of darkness.
READ MORE: British pensioner arrested for trying to smuggle drugs onto ferry in Spain
The stowaways, thought to be part of a narco trafficking network, had infiltrated the ship to carry out the mid-sea offloading operation without raising suspicion in port.
The cocaine’s exact point of origin remains under investigation, but officials suspect it arrived in Galicia by sea before being hidden aboard the cargo ship in Vigo.
Searches of the vessel continued on Thursday due to its vast size, with officers working to rule out the presence of additional hidden narcotics.
The Guardia Civil described the operation as a major blow to drug traffickers using Spain’s maritime routes to move cocaine north from South America.
Click here to read more Crime & Law News from The Olive Press.
