Spain confirms record US $956m cocaine haul after Atlantic seizure

MADRID, Spain (AFP) — Spanish authorities said on Thursday that a massive cocaine shipment intercepted in the Atlantic Ocean weighs 30 tonnes, clarifying the scale of a record haul initially estimated at up to 40 tonnes.

The confirmed total has an estimated value of 812 million euros ($956 million), Spain’s top criminal court, the Audiencia Nacional, said in a judicial order.

The 23 crew members aboard the vessel when it was intercepted by the Civil Guard on May 1 in international waters off Spain’s Canary Islands have been placed in pre-trial detention, it added.

They include 17 Filipinos, five Dutch nationals, and one person from Suriname.

The Civil Guard’s main AUGC union first announced the operation on Monday, saying “between 35 and 40 tonnes of cocaine” had been seized in what is believed to be a national record haul of the drug.

Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has called the seizure “one of the largest, not only nationally but also internationally,” without providing further details.

He is scheduled to hold a news conference on Friday about the operation.

The latest confirmed total surpasses recent major busts, including 13 tonnes of cocaine seized in 2024 at the port of Algeciras from a container ship arriving from Ecuador, then the largest seizure of its kind in the country.

The latest ship to be intercepted had departed from Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone, and was sailing towards Benghazi in Libya.

Investigators believe the vessel likely intended to transfer its cargo to smaller boats for onward trafficking into Europe.

Spain remains a key entry point for drugs into Europe owing to its close ties with Latin America, a major source of cocaine, and its proximity to North Africa, including Morocco, a major cannabis producer.