Record 13 tons of cocaine seized in Spain

(Patria) - Spanish police found 13 tons of cocaine in a shipping container at the port of Algeciras and announced that it is the largest single drug seizure in the country's history.

Never before in Europe has so much drug been found in a single shipping container, it was reported on its website.

The banana ship was traveling from Ecuador, and the cargo was addressed to a Spanish importer who had been receiving large quantities of fruit from that South American country for years.

The cocaine was discovered in packages that were inside boxes of bananas. The drug was hidden in specially made boxes and concealed by the fruit.

Police in Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, informed Spanish police that the exporter from the Guayaquil port there was registered with the police for illegal exports.

When the ship docked at the port of Algeciras, in southern Spain, local police searched the containers.

They seized documentation and conducted four searches of premises in the distant coastal town of Alicante and one in Madrid.

In Toledo, a town near Madrid, the co-owner of the fruit import company was arrested and brought before an investigating judge in Algeciras.

Police are searching for two more managers of that company.

Police believe that due to the large quantity, the drug was intended for various countries in Europe.

A police spokesperson said in a telephone conversation with Hina that the arrested woman is American.

Spanish police made their largest drug seizure last year, also at the port of Algeciras, where they found 9.4 tons of cocaine. Four months ago, they also discovered 4 tons of cocaine at the port of Barcelona.

Spanish ports serve smugglers for importing cocaine into Europe from South America, where the drug is produced.