THREE people have been arrested on the Costa del Sol after a massive haul of cocaine was found on a yacht in the Atlantic.
A 60-year-old Dutch man, thought to be the ringleader of the smuggling gang, was detained in Mijas along with a Swede and another Dutchman.
In an operation described as ‘highly dangerous’ due to the stormy seas, National Police special forces boarded the yacht Goldwasser off the Azores.
They discovered two-and-a-half tons of cocaine with a street value of €250 million and arrested the two-man crew of the German-flagged boat – one American and one South American.
Operation Midas-Ballestrinque was launched at the end of 2019. Investigators found that a gang with links to the Costa del Sol and Campo de Gibraltar had been commissioned by a Galician crime syndicate to smuggle the drugs to Spain.
Police surveillance found gang members had bought the Goldwasser in the Canary Islands and it was planned to sail from an unidentified South American country with the consignment of drugs.
Customs and police tracked the ship, and decided to board her before the drugs could be transferred to another boat.
In the Costa del Sol raids, €34,600 in cash, a pistol, mobile phones, a motorcycle, and three luxury cars were seized.
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