And in November, police announced they had arrested Michael Roden, a suspected drug trafficking boss who is listed among Britain’s 10 most wanted fugitives.
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Spanish police made 11 arrests in total as a result of the raid – seven British, two Dutch and two Spanish. “Few organisations in Europe have the capacity today to transport three tonnes of cocaine”, Eloy Quiros, head of Udyco, Spain’s national Drug and Organised Crime unit, told a news conference.
The UK nationals arrested were five men from Liverpool – aged 34, 59, 47, 31 and 47 – a 41-year-old man from Kingston-upon-Thames and a 50-year-old man from Thornbury.
Police say they interrupted a van carrying about 1,500 pounds of cocaine.
The rest of the drugs were found disguised in the form of wooden pallets in an industrial warehouse in Pontevedra, in Galicia.
Police also found one million euro (£730,000) in cash and a gun during the raid.
It is understood all three tonnes of cocaine, the biggest land seizure of cocaine by Spain’s National Police force in Galicia since 1999, were due to be taken to Britain.
The cocaine was bound for an important smuggling ring based in the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, the statement added.
Over the following weekend members of the British gang were seen meeting Spanish and Dutch subjects, who were tasked with collecting the initial 300kg.
The cocaine arrived from South America by boat.
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Robert Dawes, 44, from Nottingham, was held on a European arrest warrant issued by a French court related to the discovery of 1.3 tonnes of cocaine at Paris’ Charles De Gaulle airport in September 2013.
