Spain busts major cocaine trafficking ring, seizes 10 tons of drugs
Spanish police said on Wednesday they had dismantled one of the world’s most significant cocaine trafficking networks, seizing 10 tons of the drug and arresting five suspects in a joint operation.
Police said three arrests were made in Spain and two in Colombia during seven raids, without specifying the locations or where the drugs were found. The investigation was conducted with the help of Colombian authorities.
The network smuggled around 120 tons of cocaine annually from Colombia to Europe via ports in the Netherlands, Belgium and Spain, police said.
The traffickers were said to have ties to Colombia’s Clan del Golfo, one of the largest criminal groups involved in the global cocaine trade.
Police described the suspects as operating through shell companies, frontmen and other complex smuggling schemes. The ring’s leaders coordinated operations from Colombia, Spain and Dubai.
A specialized unit of the organization handled money laundering through offshore firms. Cryptocurrency transactions totalling around $700 million were recorded.
The breakthrough came after investigators gained access to encrypted messages sent via the Sky ECC app. The probe, launched in 2022, was codenamed “Gulupa,” after a Colombian passion fruit.
