Two held after 2.6 tonnes of cocaine found in coconut cargo

Guardia Civil officers and customs agents have intercepted 2.6 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a coconut shipment that arrived at Valencia port from Ghana, in one of the biggest drug hauls disclosed on the coast this year.

The operation ended with the arrest of two men in Viator, Almería: the importer of the cargo and the person said to have been responsible for unloading it.

How the cocaine was hidden

According to investigators, the containers were loaded at Tema port in Ghana on 2 August and reached Valencia on 22 August aboard a container ship.

The cargo was declared as coconuts, but officers found false bottoms inside the wooden boxes. Beneath those concealed compartments they discovered layers of packages typically used to transport cocaine. Field tests later confirmed the substance was cocaine hydrochloride.

The case was picked up by the ENS risk-analysis unit within customs, which selected the containers for inspection because they were flagged as high risk.

Tracked from port to warehouse

After the seizure and completion of customs formalities, investigators followed the containers from the port to their final destination. They saw the goods transferred into two refrigerated lorries, which then travelled to a warehouse in the La Juaida industrial estate in Almería.

Officers kept the premises under surveillance before making the arrests.

The operation involved units in Valencia and Almería from the customs surveillance service, together with the Guardia Civil’s organised crime and border analysis units in Valencia.

The detention of the two suspects brings the investigation to a close for now, although authorities have not said whether further arrests are expected.