Spanish police arrest 36 in anti-drugs operation

Police in the Canary Islands arrested 36 people thought to belong to one of the most active drug smuggling and dealing rings in the area and seized 342 kg of drugs in an operation on Friday.

As well as the drugs, police on the island of Las Palmas confirm they seized around a million euros (1.1 million U.S. dollars) in cash in a wide-ranging operation which saw them dismantle seven laboratories and make 23 separate searches.

The raid led to the seizure of 205 kg of cocaine, 120 kg of hashish and 17 kg of amphetamine sulfate, as well as 130 kg of substances used to cut the final product.

It is thought the dealers brought the cocaine from Colombia, before shipping it to the Canary Islands through Brazil hidden in legal goods.

Once in Las Palmas, members of the gang, working with the collaboration of associates working at the port would recover the drugs from the containers it had been hidden in.

The authorities had been alerted to the operation after the seizure of 199 kg of cocaine on June 13 from a ship which had sailed from the Brazilian port of Navigantes.

The Canary Islands were not the only location for an anti-drugs operation in Spain on Friday as police in Barcelona arrested two people and seized a haul of 13,100 ecstasy tablets, 28 liters of ketamine, as well as crystal meth, hashish and marijuana, which were stored in a rented lock-up.

The drugs were destined to be distributed in Barcelona and Ibiza.