MADRID.– Spanish authorities have confiscated 11 tons of cocaine and arrested 20 people in two operations against the smuggling of illegal drugs inside containers, police reported Tuesday.
The 7,500 kilos of cocaine seized by agents in the northwestern city of Vigo were hidden among pieces of frozen tuna. A criminal organization used a frozen seafood company as a front to transport drugs from South America to Europe, investigators said.
A police operation in Valencia allowed the seizure of 3,400 kilos of cocaine hidden in false bottoms of maritime transport containers in the port of this city on the Mediterranean.
Police did not reveal the exact dates of the operations, saying only that they were recent. He added that the two gangs were linked to criminal organizations in the Balkan region.
The investigation in Valencia, through cooperation between prosecutors, began on the contamination of a maritime cargo container that allegedly transported drugs in its structure, for which a double bottom was created inside.
This container was part of a batch of four, which arrived at the Port at the beginning of November and which had been controlled by the Police since then. For almost 30 days they were not moved from the place and, after that period, it was thought that they had been abandoned. However, investigators discovered that this was part of the strategy of the criminal organization behind it since, at the end of November, they suddenly changed the company receiving the merchandise.
Known suspect
This new company requested the delivery of the four containers. His administrator was a person known to investigators, since days before he had been arrested in the framework of another anti-drug operation, in which he was charged with the crimes of drug trafficking and membership in a criminal organization.
The investigation continued its course, understanding that this company was a fraudulent structure created expressly to simulate international trade operations in which to camouflage cocaine shipments. Finally, on November 29, the first of the containers in the batch left the Port and was moved to a vacant lot near the city, where it remained parked all night, under constant surveillance.
Source: With information from AP/EUROPA PRESS
