Spanish Police Seize Up to 40 Tons of Cocaine from Ship in Atlantic Ocean

Spanish police intercepted a ship in the Atlantic Ocean and seized what is believed to be a national record haul of cocaine, potentially reaching 40 tons. The Civil Guard carried out the operation on Friday in international waters off Spain's Canary Islands, arresting around 20 people, according to sources from the force's main AUGC union.

Between 35 and 40 tons of cocaine were impounded from the vessel, with the hold completely stuffed with bales of the drug.

The boat had left Freetown, Sierra Leone, for Benghazi, Libya, CBS News reported. It is now being inspected in the Canary Islands. Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Madrid that the seizure was one of the biggest, not only nationally but internationally.

A court order has placed the investigation under legal secrecy, the AUGC union sources said. Spain serves as a key entry point for drugs into Europe due to its proximity to Morocco, a top cannabis producer, and its close ties with Latin America. In January, Spanish police seized almost 10 tons of cocaine at sea from a ship.

U.S. tip-off led to a raid on a ship off the Canary Islands. In June 2025, police forces dismantled a drug trafficking ring that used high-speed narco boats to smuggle large quantities of cocaine from Brazil and Colombia to the Canary Islands, using an abandoned shipwreck as a refueling platform.

In 2024, Spanish police impounded 13 tons of cocaine from a container ship that arrived at the southern port of Algeciras from Ecuador.