Spanish police seize record cocaine in Ecuadorean banana shipment

Spanish police display the 13 tons of cocaine, which was seized at the Algeciras port, hidden in banana shipments after it was transported in a container from Ecuador, at the port in Algeciras, Spain, November 6, 2024. Jon Nazca

ALGECIRAS, Spain - Spanish police have made a record cocaine seizure after finding 13 metric tons of the drug hidden in a shipment of bananas in a container from Ecuador in the southern port of Algeciras.

The amount, discovered on Oct. 14. breaks the previous record in Spain when 9.4 tons of cocaine were found in 2023, also in Algeciras, the fourth biggest container port in Europe.

"It is obvious that these 13 tons of cocaine were not only bound for the Spanish market. The Spanish market cannot handle so many drugs all at once. This drug was intended to be distributed throughout Europe," Antonio Jesus Martinez, head of the Central Narcotics Brigade of the National Police told reporters.

The Spanish police were on alert after a tip off from their counterparts in Ecuador, the world's largest banana exporter, that a suspicious cargo was on its way.

Martinez said the police arrested a woman, a partner in the company that was receiving the shipment, though two managers of the import company are on the run.

(Writing by Emma Pinedo, editing by Inti Landauro and Barbara Lewis)