Spanish police have announced the dismantlement of a drug trafficking network involved in smuggling Colombian cocaine into Europe. The network utilized a method involving swimmers to load drugs onto container ships on the high seas and also engaged in vessel hijacking.
The operation, which resulted in 30 arrests and the seizure of 2.4 tons of cocaine, military-grade weapons, and luxury vehicles, was revealed shortly after Spain's largest-ever seizure of nearly 10 tons of cocaine at sea.
The network employed a technique dubbed "monkey," where young, skilled swimmers from low-income backgrounds were used to transport drugs to vessels offshore. Other members of the organization traveled to Spain to intercept container ships near the Strait of Gibraltar before their arrival, raiding them to retrieve the concealed narcotics.
In one instance last year, a ship en route to Cadiz reported stowaways, leading to the discovery of 1.3 tons of cocaine in a container. Separately, a vessel in Portuguese waters reported being hijacked by armed stowaways who unloaded cocaine hidden within a container.
Investigations showed that the network allegedly retrieved drugs by throwing them overboard from merchant vessels to smaller, faster boats near Europe. This process involved subduing ship crews and using military techniques and weapons to extract the drugs from containers. The cocaine was then stored in southern Spain before being transported by road to other European countries.
Spain serves as a primary entry point for drugs into Europe due due to its geographic proximity to Latin America and Morocco.