Spanish Police Seize Up to 40 Tons of Cocaine in Record Atlantic Haul Off Canary Islands

Spanish police have impounded what may be a national record cocaine haul from a ship in the Atlantic Ocean, with the seizure potentially reaching 40 tons, a union said Monday.

The Civil Guard intercepted the vessel in international waters off Spain's Canary Islands on Friday, arresting around 20 people, sources from the force's main AUGC union told Agence France-Presse.

Estimates put the cocaine at between 35 and 40 tons because the hold was completely stuffed with bales of the drug, making it a historic seizure, the sources said.

The boat, now under inspection in the Canary Islands, had left Freetown, Sierra Leone's capital, bound for Benghazi in Libya.

Past operations indicate it was likely headed to offload the drug to smaller vessels for distribution in Europe, as unloading this volume in Libya makes little sense.

Many vessels and different ports would be needed, since such an unload in a single port would draw heavy suspicion. The operation probably involves international networks, the AUGC sources said.

Spain's Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska told reporters in Madrid, including AFP, that the seizure was one of the biggest, not only nationally but internationally. He gave no further details.

A court order has placed the investigation under legal secrecy, the AUGC sources added. The Civil Guard declined to confirm operation details.

Spain's ties to Latin America and closeness to Morocco, a major cannabis producer, position it as a prime entry point for drugs into Europe.

In January, police made their largest prior sea cocaine seizure, nearly 10 tons from a ship.

Last October, they seized 6.5 tons of cocaine and arrested nine people after a U.S. tip led to a raid on a ship off the Canary Islands.

In June 2025, police dismantled a drug ring that used high-speed narco boats to smuggle large cocaine quantities from Brazil and Colombia to the Canary Islands. The group allegedly used an abandoned shipwreck as a refueling platform for the speedboats.