Spain seizes cocaine with street value of $250 million

MADRID – Spain has announced its second-biggest cocaine seizure ever, a near six metric-ton haul with a street value estimated at 210 million euros ($250 million).

Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido said Tuesday the highly pure cocaine was found in a container on a ship that docked in the Mediterranean port of Algeciras, about 650 kilometres (400 miles) south of Madrid.

In a statement, the Interior Ministry said the drug was concealed inside boxes of bananas in a ship from Colombia heading to Barcelona.

Authorities have arrested three men — the alleged Spanish ringleader and his suspected Portuguese and Honduran accomplices. All lived in Barcelona.

In 1999, Spain netted 7.6 metric tons of cocaine on a ship at sea in its biggest haul.