€242m cocaine haul biggest in 12 years

JUST 190 grams of cocaine led police to the largest drug haul since 2001 in Spain!

Four tons of cocaine – enough to provide 82 million doses – was found in the €242 million bust on the Costa Blanca.

Three Spaniards with aged 49 – 56 have been remanded in custody in a police operation codenamed Pluto.

Inquiries are ongoing, and more arrests have not been ruled out.,

Guardia Civil analysts found that the 190 grams of cocaine confiscated in Albacete had been in contact with processed leather. 

Subsequent investigations led them to a shoe-manufacturer in Elche, near Alicante, who had imported six containers of leather from Colombia.

The merchandise entered Spain at Algeciras in Cadiz and practically all of the shipment, loaded on pallets, was taken to an apparently-abandoned warehouse in Elche.

Police swooped a day later, taking the decision to act quickly because the warehouse was rented only the evening before the pallets arrived. 

They knew that the drug would be moved on without delay, a central government representative explained.  

Police suspicions proved correct, as a pallet was already loaded on a fork-lift when they entered the warehouse.

An Algeciras warehouse was also searched and police found more pallets of leather but no drugs. 

A search of 15 Elche properties belonging to the detainees revealed shotguns, a hunting rifle with telescopic sights, ammunition and three machetes.

Investigators now believe other huge shipments could have already reached Spain in the same way.