Spanish authorities have arrested three people at the Port of Algeciras after two of the latter allegedly boarded a container vessel to remove a shipment of narcotics.
The two who boarded the ship were reportedly dressed as port workers to avoid suspicion.
Officers found 50 kg of cocaine on board the vessel. The Spanish Tax Agency said the narcotics had a market value of more than €1.5 million (US$1.7 million).
The detainees, the case file, and the seized items were later submitted to a local court, which ordered all three suspects to be held in prison.
The joint interdiction operation was carried out by personnel from the tax agency and the Guardia Civil police force.
Guardia Civil officers first noticed a personal watercraft moving suspiciously near the containership while the latter was alongside and stevedoring operations were underway. The officers followed the craft as it approached the quay with three people on board.
Two of the occupants left the craft and boarded the containership. Officers then intervened and searched the vessel, finding two backpacks containing packages of a substance subsequently identified as cocaine.
The suspects had allegedly removed the backpacks from a shipping container before hiding them after noticing the officers.
A Guardia Civil vessel intercepted the third suspect, who was piloting the personal watercraft used to transport the other two to the containership.
Checks found that the watercraft had been stolen in La Línea de la Concepción.
Laboratory analysis confirmed that the seizure comprised 50 packages of cocaine weighing 50 kg in total.
The tax agency had reported a separate 50kg cocaine seizure at the same port in February 2025. Officers found those drugs in a container that had arrived from Guayaquil, Ecuador.