NEARLY two tonnes of cocaine found inside a Torremolinos apartment triggered a car chase through the Costa del Sol that end with an arrest in Marbella.
Spain and Portugal’s police forces dismantled the trafficking network in a joint operation that began earlier this month on August 11.
Investigators had been tracking a van and a second car acting as its escort, moving an unknown quantity of drugs from Portugal towards the Costa del Sol.
The trail led to a property in Torremolinos that police called a stash house where surveillance teams watched large packages being unloaded.
Officers searched the property and found 1,700 kilograms of cocaine alongside a loaded handgun, arresting the stash house guard.
Meanwhile, a frantic police chase broke out when a second vehicle had fled the same property.
Policia Nacional units chased it for several kilometres before making the interception in Marbella, where officers seized a further 2,000 kilograms of cocaine.
Portugal’s Policia Judiciaria separately intercepted the van as it headed back into Spain, arresting the driver and seizing 1,500 kilograms of cocaine along with two long guns.
The operation concluded on August 13, when three men were placed in custody – two in Spain, in Torremolinos and Marbella, and one in Portugal – all remanded ahead of trial.
They face charges of belonging to a criminal organisation, drug trafficking, illegal possession of weapons, assaulting a police officer and a road-safety offence.
Officers also seized a night-vision monocular, encrypted communications equipment and €1,100 in cash.
It is the latest in a run of major cocaine seizures on the Costa del Sol this year.
Spain now accounts for more cocaine seized than any other country in the European Union, 37% of the bloc’s total in 2024, according to the EU Drugs Agency.
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