Spanish officers seized 11 tonnes of hashish and detained 55 people across the country in an operation against a Moroccan drug trafficking ring.[1][2] Raids ran through Madrid, Barcelona, Málaga and the exclave of Ceuta on Morocco’s Mediterranean coast, and the ring’s suspected leaders were among those detained.[1]

A two-year investigation

Officers also seized two million euros in cash and several weapons, including two assault rifles, after an investigation that ran for two years with Moroccan and French police taking part.[1][2] Spanish police commissioner José Manuel Calleja told a news conference the gang had a hierarchical structure, laundered money and tried to corrupt institutions.[1] Police believed the hashish was bound across Europe, mainly for Britain, France, Italy and the Netherlands, smuggled in on speedboats or hidden inside the fuel tanks of trucks.[1][2]