WATCH: Spanish and Italian police seize four tonnes of cocaine

Spanish and Italian Police seized four tonnes of cocaine destined to European countries, in a joint operation that lead to the arrest of 24 people.

The news of the joint cocaine operation between Spanish and Italian police was published on Wednesday, June, 8, with the Spanish National Police taking to Twitter to share footage of the operation:

“More than four tonnes of #cocaine seized in #Italy, which was to be distributed in different European countries.”

“24 people arrested and four criminal organisations responsible for the reception and distribution of #drugs dismantled.”

🚩 Incautadas en #Italia más de cuatro toneladas de #cocaína que iban a ser distribuidas por diferentes países europeos

Detenidas 24 personas y desarticuladas cuatro organizaciones criminales encargadas de la recepción y distribución de la #droga pic.twitter.com/feQCVYU3eG

— Policía Nacional (@policia) June 8, 2022

Credit: Twitter @policia

The operation, carried out in several phases, ended with the dismantling of the four criminal organisations in charge of receiving and distributing the drugs, and with the arrest of 24 individuals – 11 of them in Italy and 13 in Colombia, Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and the Netherlands.

The investigators carried out 26 searches, in Colombia and different European countries, in which they seized nearly €2,000,000 in cash, 15 high-end vehicles and numerous encrypted communications systems.

The investigation began in April 2021 when, thanks to international cooperation mechanisms, the Italian Guardia di Finanza, the Colombian National Police and the US HSI requested the collaboration of Spanish police in relation to a shipment of 4,300 kilos of cocaine.

The drugs had been seized in Colombia and were destined for Trieste (Italy), from where they would allegedly be distributed to other Schengen countries.

As the investigations progressed, the investigators established the existence of four criminal groups in charge of receiving all the narcotic substance once it was in European territory, in order to sell it to third party organisations.

They also identified their members and found that they were based in different locations in Italy, where the most recent operation took place.

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