Spain seizes 6.5 tonnes of cocaine on boat off Canary Islands

Spanish police said on Sunday that they seized 6.5 tonnes of cocaine and arrested nine people after a US tip-off led them to raid a ship off the Canary Islands a few days ago.

In a statement, police said the narcotics were hidden in the hold of the boat, which was flying a Tanzanian flag and had departed from Panama en route to Vigo, in north-west Spain.

The Drug Enforcement Administration, the US federal agency responsible for combating drug trafficking, provided key "information" that enabled the operation to succeed, the press release stated.

Spain is one of the main gateways for cocaine into Europe, due to its links with Latin America, where the drug is produced, and its geographical location in the south-west of the continent.

Spanish police made their biggest ever cocaine seizure last October when they discovered some 13 tonnes hidden in a shipment of bananas to the southern port of Algeciras.

Agence France-Presse