Spain's seizures of cocaine in 2017 double

MADRID, Jan. 24 (Xinhua) -- The amount of cocaine seized by Spanish authorities in 2017 almost doubled that of 2016, according to data published by the Spanish Interior Ministry and National Police Force on Tuesday.

2017 saw 32 tonnes of cocaine seized in Spain, up from 15 tonnes taken out of circulation in 2016, accounting for 40 percent of the total of the drug seized in Europe during the past year.

Meanwhile, Spanish Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido highlighted via social media that while Spain had "captured 40 percent of the cocaine discovered in all of Europe and 70 percent of the hashish arriving from Morocco."

The past year saw the largest cocaine discovery in Spain in 18 years when 5.8 tonnes of the drug were found on a container vessel in the port of Algeciras, in the south of the country.

The drug had a street value of over 250 million U.S. dollars and the fact that it was discovered from a ship from the Colombian city of Medellin serves to highlight that Spain's close trade links to Latin America and its proximity to Morocco make it a perfect entry point for drug trafficking to Europe.

However, the Spanish Interior Ministry explained that the success in intercepting shipments have led to gangs using other countries, such as Belgium and the Netherlands as the routes for shipping the illicit drugs. Enditem