Three Arrested at Port of Algeciras After Men Disguised as Dock Workers Remove 50 kg of Cocaine
Two men boarded a container ship at Spain's Port of Algeciras posing as port workers to steal 50 kg of cocaine. A third accomplice on a stolen jet ski was also arrested.
Cocaine Heist at Algeciras Foiled as Suspects Pose as Port Workers
Three people have been arrested at the Port of Algeciras after two of them allegedly boarded a container ship disguised as dock workers and attempted to remove 50 kg of cocaine from the vessel, marineinsight.com reports.
The two men wore clothing similar to standard port worker uniforms before boarding the docked ship. A third suspect waited nearby on a jet ski.
Civil Guard officers from the Maritime Service spotted the jet ski moving suspiciously close to the container ship while cargo operations were under way. Officers began surveilling the three individuals and tracked their movements before intervening.
The operation was conducted by the Risk Analysis Unit (ULAR), a joint unit comprising Customs Surveillance officials from Spain's Tax Agency and Civil Guard personnel, with additional support from the Civil Guard's Maritime Service.
Once on board, the two men allegedly retrieved two backpacks from inside one of the shipping containers. After noticing the presence of authorities, they attempted to conceal the bags. Officers located the backpacks during a subsequent search of the vessel. The bags held 50 individual packages of cocaine totalling 50 kg in weight.
Spain's Tax Agency placed the street value of the seized drugs at more than 1.5 million euros — approximately $1.7 million.
While the search of the ship was ongoing, the third suspect remained on the jet ski. A vessel from the Civil Guard's Provincial Maritime Service in Algeciras intercepted him before he could leave the area. Investigators subsequently established that the jet ski had been stolen just hours earlier in La Línea de la Concepción.
All three suspects were arrested and transferred to the competent judicial authority together with the seized drugs and other evidence gathered at the scene. A judge ordered all three remanded in custody.
The Port of Algeciras was also the scene of a separate cocaine seizure in February 2025, when authorities recovered another 50 kg of the drug from inside a container that had arrived from Guayaquil, Ecuador.
Source: Google News TT — Port of Spain