Spanish police made their largest ever cocaine seizure at sea. They found almost 10 tonnes of cocaine hidden among a cargo of salt on a ship near the Canary Islands. The merchant ship had set off from Brazil and was caught 332 miles (535 km) off the islands. Last week, elite police officers boarded the vessel and uncovered nearly 300 wrapped bales of cocaine buried in salt. Thirteen people were arrested. The ship had run out of fuel and was towed to port in Santa Cruz de Tenerife. Video from the operation shows officers digging through heaps of salt to pull out the drug bales. The mission, called White Tide, was a joint effort with Brazil’s federal police, the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the UK’s National Crime Agency, as well as French and Portuguese authorities. The Policía Nacional said, "Thanks to this joint effort, Policía Nacional officers recovered 9,994kg of cocaine packed into 294 bundles that had been hidden among the tonnes of salt the ship was transporting, as well as a firearm that the gang was using to protect the shipment." They added, "This represents a decisive blow to international criminal networks involved in maritime cocaine trafficking, demonstrating the effectiveness of international police cooperation in the fight against global drug trafficking – and highlighting, once again, the ability of the Policía Nacional to act successfully against criminal organisations with a global reach." Their previous record was 7.5 tonnes seized from a trawler in July 1999. In 2024 alone, Spain seized 123 tonnes of cocaine, up from 118 tonnes in 2023 and 58 tonnes in 2022. Earlier this year, authorities also found over 13 tonnes hidden in banana shipments from Ecuador.