Spain's national police, in a joint operation with customs officials in the southern port of Algeciras, seized almost a ton of cocaine hidden in containers and delivered from South America, the drug belonging to the "Balkan Cartel", the police said on their website.
"The 'Balkan Cartel' is currently the most active at the European level," the announcement states. Police say Latin American gangs are sending cocaine hidden among legal goods in containers arriving by ship in Spanish ports. The operation began after a tip-off about the arrival of a container with a "significant amount of cocaine" in Algeciras in the province of Andalusia, one of Spain's largest ports. Agents who have long been investigating the activities of the "Balkan Cartel" also had information that this group, made up of citizens of the former Yugoslavia, was looking for a way to process this cocaine.
At the same time, they receive a warning from Colombia that an Ecuadorian ship that stops in Colombia plans to transport cocaine to a port in Spain. Agents identified the ship's number and when it docked in Algeciras, investigators opened the containers and found 415 kilograms of the drug.
Based on new information, they learned that another container of drugs was arriving in Algeciras, so they found another 500 kilograms of cocaine in it, the release said. "The difficulty in researching the members of these organizations lies in their mobility. They are able to travel thousands of kilometers to hold a meeting. The investigation continues to identify all the members of the network and arrest them," the Spanish police said. /BGNES
