{"id":304,"date":"2017-11-20T19:39:29","date_gmt":"2017-11-20T19:39:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ielrblog.com\/?p=304"},"modified":"2017-11-20T19:39:29","modified_gmt":"2017-11-20T19:39:29","slug":"joint-spain-uk-transnational-operation-seizes-1-2-tons-cocaine-5-arrested","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/20\/joint-spain-uk-transnational-operation-seizes-1-2-tons-cocaine-5-arrested\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint Spain-UK Transnational Operation Seizes 1.2 Tons of Cocaine; 5 Arrested"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a joint Spain-UK effort this month, Spanish national police made a <\/span>massive<\/span><\/a> 1.2 ton cocaine bust in Granada and Guip\u00fazcoa, dismantling a transnational drug trafficking organization that Spanish national police described as “<\/span>one of the most active in Europe<\/span><\/a>.” The organization was based in both <\/span>the UK and Spain<\/span><\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The trafficking network operated by bringing large quantities of cocaine south from a location near the Basque coastal town of San Sebastian to Granada, before transporting the drugs in small quantities primarily to the UK, \u201c<\/span>where the average street price for a single gram is around \u00a345.<\/span><\/a>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

After a truck demonstrating abnormal behavior stopped to unload in Granada, police intervened, discovering 531 kilograms of cocaine hidden amongst legal cargo. Later, police unearthed an additional 678 kilos of cocaine that the organization had buried alongside a cannabis plantation less than 50 km\u2019s from the French border, in Zarautz. They also <\/span>discovered<\/span><\/a> 35 gun cartridges, a list of undercover cops\u2019 license plates, and nearly 5,500 Euros onsite. The operation resulted in the arrests of three British and two Spanish citizens.<\/span><\/p>\n

While this drug seizure constitutes \u201c<\/span>one of the largest ever intercepted on Spanish soil<\/span><\/a>,\u201d it is certainly not the first joint Spain-UK international enforcement effort to shake the cocaine trade. As recently as May of this year, the two countries, in a joint operation with Europol <\/span>criminal intelligence analysis, funding, and operational coordination support<\/span><\/a>, detained 24 traffickers and seized 5.5 tons of cocaine onboard a merchant vessel in Ecuador\u2014also bound for European markets. <\/span>EU countries often coordinate and cooperate with one another on drug enforcement through transnational law enforcement agencies such as Europol. <\/span>Focal Point (FP) Cola<\/span><\/a>, Europol\u2019s specialized team tackling cocaine trafficking specifically, has been facilitating such transnational cooperative drug enforcement efforts since 2001. <\/span><\/p>\n

Europol\u2019s role in this operation demonstrates its utility in the EU\u2019s single-market economy. It will be interesting to watch how UK law enforcement\u2019s relationship with the transnational enforcement agency evolves post-Brexit. <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a joint Spain-UK effort this month, Spanish national police made a massive 1.2 ton cocaine bust in Granada and Guip\u00fazcoa, dismantling a transnational drug trafficking organization that Spanish national police described as “one of the most active in Europe.” The organization was based in both the UK and Spain. The trafficking network operated by […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-304","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-transnational-organized-crime-cybercrime-narcotics","7":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nJoint Spain-UK Transnational Operation Seizes 1.2 Tons of Cocaine; 5 Arrested | IELR Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/ielrblog.com\/index.php\/2017\/11\/20\/joint-spain-uk-transnational-operation-seizes-1-2-tons-cocaine-5-arrested\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Joint Spain-UK Transnational Operation Seizes 1.2 Tons of Cocaine; 5 Arrested | IELR Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In a joint Spain-UK effort this month, Spanish national police made a massive 1.2 ton cocaine bust in Granada and Guip\u00fazcoa, dismantling a transnational drug trafficking organization that Spanish national police described as “one of the most active in Europe.” The organization was based in both the UK and Spain. 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