Spanish police said on Friday they had seized over two tonnes of cocaine and arrested nine people suspected of smuggling large quantities of the drug from Colombia.
The nine — all Spanish nationals — are suspected of being members of the “Piturros” gang, a criminal group linked to drug trafficking in Spain’s northwestern Galicia region since the 1980s, a police statement said.
The cocaine was seized from a ship off the Portuguese coast and from several buildings in Galicia in an operation coordinated by EU police force Europol and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the statement added.
Spanish police said the gang members were believed to be “in close contact with the main Colombian cocaine distributors”.
Europol said the seized cocaine was “destined for a notorious criminal gang originating from the Western Balkans region”.
Galicia’s rugged Atlantic coast with hundreds of hidden coves, inlets and desolate beaches has for years been a key European gateway for illegal drugs.
Earlier this month, police said they had seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Vigo in Galicia concealed in a shipment of frozen tuna which had been imported by Albanian cartels.