Overview
- Officers from the Special Operations Group boarded a Cameroon-flagged container ship that left Brazil and found 9,994 kilograms of cocaine concealed in a salt cargo en route to Europe.
- Thirteen crew members were detained, with 294 packages of the drug and a handgun recovered during the raid.
- The vessel ran out of fuel, drifted for nearly 12 hours, and was towed by the Spanish coastguard to Santa Cruz de Tenerife in the Canary Islands.
- Authorities transported the haul to Las Palmas for destruction in military ovens, after releasing footage showing the boarding and U.S. DEA agents on scene.
- The multinational operation, codenamed White Tide, involved MAOC alongside U.S., Brazilian, U.K., French, and Portuguese partners, with the case advancing toward potential prosecutions.