A record 13-ton seizure of cocaine in Spain in mid-October is more evidence that the country has returned as the main entry point into Europe for the drug after Belgium and the Netherlands significantly improved security at their ports.

The National Police and the Customs Surveillance Service seized the cocaine at the port of Algeciras in the southern Spanish province of Cadiz, in a container that had been sent from Ecuador.

This is the largest seizure in Spain’s history, surpassing the 9.5 tons also seized in Algeciras in August 2023. The investigation into the seizure remains open, the El Pais newspaper reported.

“A lot of cocaine is seized in the port of Algeciras, but there is also a lot of cocaine passing through,” Miguel Angel Ramos, secretary general of the Unified Association of Civil Guards (AUGC) in Cadiz, explained to InSight Crime.  “It is known that there are other containers like this one that come in with up to 13 tons, 3,000 [kilograms], 4,000, 5,000…”.

SEE ALSO:Spain: The European Base for Latin American Organized Crime

Spain was for decades the base of operations for Latin American criminal groups in Europe thanks to its cultural and linguistic proximity and the connections Colombian drug traffickers established with Spanish smuggling networks in the 1980s.

Although it never ceased to be an important entry point, a decline in seizures starting in 2018 suggested that this route lost importance compared to the continent’s larger ports: Antwerp in Belgium and Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

This was the case until 2023, when an overproduction of cocaine in South America led to record seizures across Europe, and Spain was once again the European country with the highest volume of seizures. 

In total that year, Spanish authorities seized 142 tons of the drug, compared to 121 tons seized by Belgian authorities and 60 tons by Dutch authorities.

In the first months of 2024, seizures in Antwerp and Rotterdam dropped significantly as a result of increased vigilance and the adaptation of drug trafficking networks seeking new routes. But Spain continues to register record seizures.

InSight Crime analysis

Law enforcement pressure on the ports of Antwerp and Rotterdam likely forced traffickers to seek new routes. Spain has repositioned itself strongly as the primary point of entry into Europe due to its past as the epicenter of Latin American organized crime in the region.

Spain offers a number of attractive qualities to drug traffickers searching for efficient routes and methods of transport across the Atlantic. Sailboats, a high volume of containers, as well as semi-submersibles, airplanes, and boats, reach Spanish waters and the mainland, which serves as a nexus between Latin America, Africa, and Europe.

“The narcos are constantly reinventing themselves,” Ramos explained to InSight Crime, referring to both local and Latin American networks. “They have seen the easy point of access.”

In the 1980s, Spain became the epicenter of Latin American organized crime in Europe when the Medellín and Cali cartels realized the potential of Galicia’s coastline on the northwest peninsula and the infrastructure of Galician smuggling networks to bring cocaine into the country.

SEE ALSO:Southern Spain Sees Wave of Drug Trafficking

Starting in the 2000s, the Colombians went on to establish financial centers as well as networks of hitmen dedicated to collecting drug trafficking-related debts and extended their operations throughout the peninsula.

This infrastructure and connections between Latin American suppliers, transporters, and distributors continued and are evolving with the emergence of new competitors, especially European criminal groups. 

“They already have their networks here. Above all, the bosses are on the Costa del Sol,” said Ramos in reference to both Latin American and European organizations. 

Large-scale cocaine shipments are often the result of collaboration between these increasingly global networks. In August 2023, Spanish authorities identified the involvement of up to 30 different organizations in the 9.5-ton shipment in the port of Algeciras. The cocaine was to be distributed throughout Europe.

Some European networks with a presence in Spain have also established themselves in key Latin American countries, thus controlling the departure and arrival of shipments. 

In February 2024, a police operation between Ecuador and Spain captured 31 alleged members of a transnational drug trafficking network led by Albanian national Dritan Gjika, based in Guayaquil, Ecuador, and his Italian-Argentine partner Mario Sanchez Rinaldi, based in Marbella on Spain’s Costa del Sol.

Featured Image: A cargo vessel at the Port of Algeciras. Credit: Port Authority of the Bay of Algeciras.