48 arrested in an international bust of cocaine

Police said the main operation for smuggling cocaine, which used a network of high -speed dirt from South America to the Canary Islands.

Almost four tonnes of cocaine sent from Brazil and Colombia were confiscated and 48 suspects arrested in Furteventure raids, Grand Cans and Lansarot.

Spain Nacional Police said the gang used 11 so -called Narco boats to smuggle drugs across the Atlantic in a complex operation that participated in the use of an abandoned crash in the sea as a refueling platform.

Police forces from Europe, the United Kingdom, South America and the United States participated in the planning raids called “Black Shadow”.

The National Agency of Crimes in the UK (NCA) confirmed that the British citizen was among the arrested.

Europole has stated that the gang repeatedly used boats, “going from strategic moments in the Atlantic, to the maternal ship transporting cocaine.”

Investigators found that the gang used “a complex encrypted communication system to avoid law enforcement agencies, including the use of satellite terminals, complex phones and coded language.”

Police said the raids were months in planning and 29 inspected facilities, 69 vehicles were confiscated – including boats and water skis – as well as cash and firearms.

Details of the raids cover the complexity of international gangs on Networks, which are used to introduce narcotics into Europe, the main market of cartels based in South America.

Spanish police said the operation “dismantled one of the largest criminal organizations on cocaine trade.”

The force also stated that she had determined the local network in the Canary Islands responsible for spreading cocaine as soon as it arrived from South America.

In the frames of the raids published by the Spanish police, armed and camouflaged officers who conducted raids in several homes were arrested and searched.

This is not the first time the police intercepted a large amount of cocaine, which came to the Canary Islands, the Spanish territory and the popular tourist point, which lay about 100 km (62 miles) from the West African coast.

In December, police announced that Venezuelan fisheries at 1000 miles in the sea had been intercepted.

It was found that the vessel – which was so renewed, he dropped when he had towed ashore – wore 3.3 tons of cocaine.

Commenting on the last raid, the NCA press -secretary said: “Along with our international partners, we are tireless in our efforts to combat drug trafficking across the border, ensuring that it will be confiscated before it reaches the restricted UK supply chain.”