Spain dismantles sophisticated tunnel for smuggling hashish from Morocco
Spanish agents have located an underground infrastructure hidden beneath a warehouse in Ceuta, used to transport large quantities of hashish from Moroccan territory. The operation resulted in 17 tonnes of drugs seized and 27 arrests.
Spain dismantles sophisticated tunnel for smuggling hashish from Morocco
A complex drug trafficking network has suffered a severe blow following the discovery of an underground passageway connecting Morocco with the Spanish autonomous city of Ceuta. The structure, concealed in the subsoil of an industrial building, served as a route for introducing large quantities of hashish into European territory.
Investigators determined that the excavation reached nineteen metres in depth and consisted of three interconnected levels. At the lowest level, oriented towards the Moroccan border, a railway track with small wagons had been installed to transport the cargo. The intermediate zone functioned as a storage and preparation area for the substance, from where it was raised by mechanical systems to the surface, according to details from CBS News.
To guarantee the secrecy of their operations, the tunnel's builders installed water pumping equipment and acoustic insulation panels. The total length of the conduit remains unknown because some sectors remain underwater, explained the operation's director, Antonio Martínez.
The investigation began in February 2025 and culminated in several simultaneous raids in Ceuta and the peninsula. Agents managed to confiscate more than seventeen tonnes of hashish and nearly one and a half million euros in cash. Twenty-seven people were brought before the courts, including two alleged leaders of the organisation.
One of the ringleaders, arrested on Thursday in Morocco, is considered the designer of these clandestine infrastructures. The other, detained in Ceuta, allegedly controlled the drug shipment. The man arrested in Moroccan territory is also linked to another passageway discovered during the previous year, according to CBS News.
Spain's proximity to the world's leading cannabis producer makes the country one of the most important gateways for drugs entering Europe. During 2023, Spanish authorities carried out sixty-eight per cent of all hashish seizures recorded in the European Union, according to figures from the European drugs agency cited by Reuters.
Source: Google News SI — Crime (sl)