Spanish customs officers claim to have seized five tonnes of cocaine in a dramatic mid-Atlantic raid 350 miles off the Canary Islands. Thirteen people were arrested in the operation, eight of them on board the fishing vessel Abrente and another five on land.
One of the men detained by police has been named as Jose Manuel Padin, alleged to be the leader of the drug-running gang, who was sentenced to nine years' imprisonment following an earlier cocaine seizure.
The Abrente was boarded by the crew of the Spanish customs vessel Petrel, in a raid described by Mr Javier Goizueta as "difficult and dangerous, due to the rough seas and the resistance put up by members of the Abrente's crew." He said that one customs officer fell overboard in the operation, although he was rescued without injury.
The seizure, by a team based in Pontevedra and Coruna, in north-western Spain, is the result of over a year of detective work by drugs and tax officials. They centred their attention on the Abrente, which made regular trips from its home port of Coruna, allegedly to fish for tuna, with frequent calls to the Canary Islands.
After leaving Coruna last January, drugs officials believe, the Abrente made a rendezvous with a second vessel in mid-Atlantic, where the transfer of Colombian cocaine took place. It was intercepted by the Petrel when returning to its home port.
Mr Goizueta said that once the crew realised they had been spotted they began to throw their cargo overboard. The packets of cocaine had been attached to an anchor rope to permit rapid disposal.
But the customs officials attached floats to the packets and hauled them aboard their own vessel.
Officials are reluctant to declare the exact quantity after an embarrassing episode last year when they boasted of an even larger seizure but failed to find a single ounce when the suspect ship was towed to port.
If the quantity of five tonnes is confirmed, it will be the second-largest cocaine haul ever found in European waters.