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FJD$2 billion cocaine bust in Spain and most of the packs were labelled as Fiji

FJD$2 billion cocaine bust in Spain and most of the packs were labelled as Fiji

By Vijay Narayan
12/11/2024
Photo:SkyNews

Spain has seized 13 tonnes of cocaine worth almost FJD$2 billion in the biggest drug raid in its history, and most of the packs were labelled as Fiji.

Sky News reports that Spanish Police found 13 tonnes of the class A drug hidden behind bananas in a cargo container that sailed from Ecuador.

Spanish authorities have shared dramatic footage of a raid on a property linked to the seizing of the cocaine, in what they described as the biggest anti-narcotics operation in the country's history.

Officials found bricks of drugs hidden in a shipment of bananas in a container from Ecuador at the port of Algeciras in southern Spain.

The cargo container had sailed from Guayaquil, Ecuador.

Officers can also be seen trying to break a safety box before a woman is detained at what appears to be a separate location.

The final shots show police officers loading the drugs, appearing in the form of green bricks, on vans.

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The operation, in collaboration with the Ecuadorian police, resulted in five raids and one arrest.

The Ecuadorian export company was on police and customs records for a history of "illicit trafficking," according to the police.

Police are looking for two of its managers.

To date, the largest drug seizures in Spain was 9.4 tonnes in 2023, and another 8.7 tonnes five years earlier.

Ecuador intercepted a total of 204 tonnes of drugs between January and September this year, almost the annual average for the past three years, government figures show.

Click here for stories on the Drugs Situation in Fiji

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