Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain - Spanish police have dismantled one of the country's biggest drug rings, intercepting a fishing boat carrying 2.5 tons of Colombian cocaine and detaining 11 people, police said Wednesday. The cocaine, which was estimated to be worth 81 million euros (125 million dollars) on the drug market, was seized in the Atlantic on July 26 and unloaded Wednesday on Gran Canaria Island.
The ring transported cocaine to the north-western Spanish region of Galicia, which is regarded, along with Portugal, as the main gate of entry of the drug into the European market.
The detainees included the five Venezuelan crew of the fishing vessel and six people who were held in Galicia.
Only about one-fifth of the cocaine boats arriving in Spain are intercepted by police, said Felipe Suarez of the Galician Foundation against Drug Trafficking (FGCN).
Drug rings were increasingly using sophisticated security and telecommunications systems as well as fresh traffickers unknown to police, he explained.
