UK drug ring busted in Spain, 9 held with cocaine worth $200M

OVIEDO, Spain (AA) - Spanish police announced on Friday that they had broken up a British criminal gang involved in smuggling large quantities of cocaine into Europe on luxury pleasure boats.

Nine British criminals were arrested and 3.8 tons of cocaine were seized, according to a Spanish police statement.

The operation was carried out in the Spanish province of Malaga and the UK, in collaboration with the British National Crime Agency. The cocaine has an estimated street value of €188 million (approximately $204 million).

The police also seized two luxury pleasure boats, one vehicle, and "a large number of mobile phones," the statement said.

The alleged criminal gang operated differently than many other cocaine smugglers, who often disguise the drugs in cargo shipments.

Instead, this organization allegedly met up with larger merchant ships coming from South America off the southern coast. During the rendezvous, the larger ship would toss cocaine into the sea in floating waterproof containers.

According to the police statement, the British gang members would simply grab the drugs from the sea and return to a Spanish port in their pleasure boats.

Spanish police were suspicious of such activities and searched a ship in the luxurious Benalmadena port in the heart of the Costa del Sol, the statement said.

After discovering that it was carrying 18kg (40 lbs) of cocaine, Spanish authorities contacted UK authorities and learned that some of the suspects were also being investigated in the UK for similar criminal activities.

From there, Spanish and British authorities launched a joint investigation into the gang. They now claim that the nine people arrested were part of a drug racket that smuggled large amounts of cocaine into Spain and then into the UK.