30 people have been arrested, and almost 2.5 tonnes of cocaine have been seized after Spanish Police broke up a gang employing young swimmers to hide the drugs on ships destined to Europe.

The ships were then attacked, and the drugs were taken before they arrived at their respective ports.

The operation was a result of a 15-month-long investigation that began in October 2024 when the police discovered nearly 88 kg of cocaine in a vehicle in the town of Mijas in southern Spain.

The follow-up investigation took them to three gangs, including a Balkan cartel who were coordinating with each other to bring enormous amounts of cocaine into Spain from Colombia.

The criminals used the monkey technique to pack cocaine into shipping containers that were secretly loaded on container vessels, per findings.

They employed young adults from poor families who were good swimmers to get the drugs on ships while at sea.

The other gang members then reached Spain to get the drug-laden containers by intercepting the vessels before they reached the Strait of Gibraltar.

The police thwarted one such attempt last year when a ship destined for the Port of Cadiz told the authorities about finding stowaways on the deck. Ultimately, this led to the police finding a container with 1.4 tonnes of cocaine.

The stowaways, who were able to flee, were three men who were present onboard to recover the drugs.

Soon after, another vessel reported armed stowaways onboard; the men managed to unload the cocaine that was hidden in a container and gave it to their accomplices before evading the authorities.

Last year, an officer detained 5 men, three Colombians and two Spanish members of the Balkan Cartel, who employed speedboats and drop-off methods to collect the drugs.

They threw the packed drugs from the ship, which were then retrieved by small vessels close to the destination port.

They blackmailed the crew members and had weapons of war.

For some time, they hid the drugs in nearby towns and villages and then trucked them to European countries.

The officials not only discovered the drugs, but also found boarding ladders, high-end vehicles, nautical equipment and over €166,000 (£144,000) in cash, luxury watches, and jewellery worth €100,000.

The Spanish Police, on Monday, announced their biggest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea after finding 10 tonnes of it sashed in salt on a merchant vessel near the Canary Islands.