The drugs were found in one of the containers of the ship “Cape Citius”, with a regular route between South America and the port of Oviedo. The arrests were made in the vicinity of the Vialia shopping complex in Urzáiz.

View of the port of Vigo. / MARTA G. BREA

09 JAN 2025 11:26 Updated 09 JAN 2025 21:46

The port of Vigo has been the scene of a new blow to drug trafficking in the last few hours, this time with an operation of special relevance with nine detainees linked to the Balkan clans. As FARO has been able to confirm, some 1,100 kilos of cocaine have been seized in the deployment  (the exact amount is pending official weighing) and six Albanians and three Belgians have been arrested.

In the operation, baptized as “Leyden”, members of the Greco Galicia and the central Udyco and the police stations of Vigo and Pontevedra have intervened.

The drug was found in one of the containers of the ship “Cape Citius”, according to Narcodiario, with a regular route between South America and the olive port. The ship docked in Guixar early Wednesday morning, detecting the drug in one of its containers. A deployment was activated that led to the arrest of nine people in the vicinity of the Vialia shopping complex in Urzáiz, who will be brought to court tomorrow.

The TSXG confirms that late last night the operation was still open and the case, investigated by the Court of Instruction number 4 of Vigo, under secrecy.

The “Cape Citius” shares a route with the “Izmit Express”, in which just over a month ago 524 kilos of cocaine were found hidden in a container.

Container of the “Izmit Express” in which 524 kilos of cocaine were found last December, in the port of Vigo. / FdV

Maritime transport with South America is one of the hot routes for anti-drug trafficking units. Drug clans often use the “blind hook” method, i.e., placing cocaine in containers camouflaged among legal merchandise and without the operators’ knowledge. Once at the destination port, gang members try to recover that cargo.

The route linking Vigo with South America, operated by the German company Hapag Lloyd, was put into operation last April for the transport of fruit and frozen fish. It calls at the ports of Buenaventura (Colombia), Paita (Peru), Posorja and Guayaquil (Ecuador), Manzanillo (Panama), Puerto Limón (Costa Rica) and Cartagena (Colombia).

Days before Christmas, the Ecuadorian Police intercepted a shipment of 1.2 tons of cocaine between cans of tuna in a container in the port of Guayaquil that were destined for Vigo.

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, this morning in Tui at the inauguration of the new headquarters of the Police and Customs Cooperation Centre (CCPA). / Alba Villar

Marlaska highlights the importance of the operation

The Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, who was in Tui on Thursday to inaugurate the Police and Customs Cooperation Centre, said that it is an “important” operation that is “judicialised”.

“Let the development of this investigation continue and conclude the operation,” he asked, adding that, what is known so far, “what makes it clear is the professionalism and capacity of our security forces and bodies to confront” criminal organizations, “in this case those dedicated to drug trafficking”.