Police off North Spain Intercept Boat Carrying Two Tonnes of Cocaine

MADRID (Reuters) – Spanish police seized two metric tonnes (4,409 kilos) of cocaine with a road worth of about 70 million euros ($76.7 million) from a single-mast sailboat they intercepted off Spain’s northern coast, the nation’s tax company stated on Wednesday.

It stated the placement of the haul, within the Bay of Biscay, was “completely distinctive”. Most cocaine shipments from Latin America to Europe are seized alongside Spain’s western Atlantic coast.

The 13-metre (43-foot) lengthy vessel named Night time Falls was crusing beneath a British flag when it was intercepted some 30 nautical miles off the port metropolis of Santander.

All 4 of its crew – a Spaniard, a Colombian nationwide and two Venezuelan residents – have been taken into custody.

The joint operation between Spanish police, customs officers and Britain’s Nationwide Crime Company was launched primarily based on intelligence offered by the Maritime Evaluation and Operations Centre-Narcotics, a regulation enforcement initiative involving six European Union nations and Britain.

The tipoff sparked a 48-hour search by air and sea that led to the Night time Falls being apprehended, the assertion stated.

(Reporting by David Latona; Enhancing by Barbara Lewis)

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