In the port of Algeciras, in southern Spain, 2,065 kilograms (4,553 pounds) of cocaine were seized.
(CNN) - Spanish
police seized more than two tons of cocaine and arrested 12 people allegedly involved in a large-scale drug trafficking ring with connections to Paraguay and Brazil.
Authorities investigated the network, whose members had been trying to cover their tracks by establishing legitimate businesses, for more than a year, according to a statement from Spain's National Police on Monday.
The investigation culminated in the arrests and seizure of 2,065 kilograms (2.28 US tons) hidden in a shipment of 40,000 kilograms (44.1 US tons) of charcoal in the port of Algeciras, in southern Spain.
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The drugs were hidden inside a charcoal container shipped from Paraguay.
In early 2020, the police identified members of the organization based in the Murcia and Seville provinces who were building a seemingly legitimate business importing dozens of containers of charcoal from South America to the port of Barcelona.
However, complications from storage problems and the coronavirus pandemic caused the group to relocate its operations to the port of Algeciras in southern Spain in mid-April, police said.
Police rebuilt the structure of the network, which included two families with key members in Brazil and Paraguay coordinating cocaine shipments.
Others in Seville created businesses that appeared to be dedicated to the importation of coal, rice, molasses, or medical products.
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Police said the network's leaders recruited people to act as a front for the companies to conceal their involvement, and a well-known Valencia-based money launderer acted as an emissary between them and the owners of the companies.
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Police said the person who laundered the money used cryptocurrencies to hide money and is known to work with "many criminal groups from Eastern Europe and South America" involved in drug, gun and human trafficking.
The sophistication of the network meant that the police had to tap more than 100 telephones and follow suspects in several Spanish provinces.
During the course of the investigation, agents also searched 16 homes and businesses, as well as nearly 200 containers shipped to Spain from Brazil and Paraguay, the statement said.
All 12 have been charged, six of them arrested and six released under specific conditions.
Their names have not been made public.
Cocaine
