Spain seizes record 10 tonnes of cocaine hidden in salt cargo off Canary Islands

# Spain seizes record 10 tonnes of cocaine hidden in salt cargo off Canary Islands

IO Digest Desk

Spanish police say they have made their largest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea after uncovering almost 10 tonnes hidden among a cargo of salt on a merchant ship off the Canary Islands.

The Policía Nacional said investigators had been tracking a suspected vessel that had left Brazil and was believed to be carrying enormous quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe. Officers from the force’s elite special group of operations boarded the ship last week when it was 332 miles, or 535 kilometres, off the Canary Islands. They found almost 300 bales of cocaine buried in a shipment of salt.

Thirteen people were arrested and the vessel, which had run out of fuel, was towed to Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Video released by police showed officers using shovels to dig the wrapped bundles out of the salt inside the hold. Police said they also recovered a firearm that the gang used to protect the shipment.

The operation, nicknamed White Tide, was carried out with Brazilian federal police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the UK’s National Crime Agency and French and Portuguese authorities. That multinational footprint matters because it shows how the seizure was not simply a domestic Spanish police success but the result of a wider intelligence chain stretching across source, transit and destination countries.

Police said they recovered 9,994 kilograms of cocaine packed into 294 bundles. They also described the haul as a decisive blow to international criminal networks involved in maritime cocaine trafficking. The previous record for Spanish police at sea was 7.5 tonnes recovered from a trawler in 1999.

Spain has become a major entry point for cocaine into Europe, and the seizure highlights how traffickers continue to move drugs using commercial shipping routes and heavily concealed cargoes. In 2024, Spanish police and customs officers intercepted more than 13 tonnes hidden in a banana shipment from Ecuador, the largest known consignment to reach the country. That same year, Spain seized a total of 123 tonnes of cocaine, up from 118 tonnes in 2023 and 58 tonnes in 2022.

The case also illustrates a broader trend in narcotics enforcement: traffickers are betting on scale and concealment, while police are relying on intelligence-led boardings and international cooperation. In this operation, the ship was detected before it could disappear into port traffic, and the seizure turned into a public display of how physically laborious high-end drug interdiction can be.

The size of the haul is notable, but so is the method. Salt is bulky, relatively ordinary cargo that can mask a major shipment if traffickers can get the logistics right. Spanish investigators say they did not, and the result was a record bust that may disrupt one supply chain but is unlikely to end the flow on its own.