Overview

• Agents seized 814 kilos of cocaine in a Valencia container from Guayaquil and arrested four suspects, including a port worker, after finding three men hiding with cutting tools to extract the load.
• Spain’s macrooperation in Valencia, coordinated by Investigative Court No. 15 and led by UDYCO, executed 48 searches across dozens of locations with arrests expected to reach roughly 80–86 after an investigation opened in April 2024.
• Eight undercover National Police officers infiltrated the alleged ‘Port of València cartel,’ helping attribute at least 3,589 kilos of cocaine to the networks, which mainly used the ‘gancho perdido’ method to recover drugs inside the terminal.
• Investigators report repeated routes from Guayaquil and ties to Albanian-led Balkan groups, and are prioritizing asset seizures by blocking bank accounts and cryptocurrency credentials while probing possible insider leaks.
• In a separate Guardia Civil–Tax Agency case, Operation Silbo dismantled a Canary Islands–based syndicate with 34 arrests, 2,185 kilos of cocaine seized, a Tenerife cutting lab shut down, and assets blocked with support from Europol, the DEA and Cabo Verde police.