• The drugs were hidden inside a container from Ecuador.

• The organization planned to introduce the drugs into Spain using the 'rip-off' or 'blind hook' method.

October 5, 2026. Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency, together with Civil Guard officers, have seized a shipment of 862 kilos of cocaine at the port of Valencia. The shipment was hidden inside a container from the port of Guayaquil (Ecuador).

The operation began when the Risk Analysis Unit of the port of Valencia, made up of Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and the Civil Guard, carried out an analysis of the containers arriving at the port, after which they selected one of them for inspection, whose declared cargo was sugar.

After the container doors were opened on September 27, investigators found 862 cocaine tablets, each weighing approximately one kilogram, distributed in 32 bundles that were located on top of the legal cargo and independently of it.

Given the arrangement of the legal cargo and the bales of drugs, the investigators conclude that the criminal organization was attempting to introduce the drugs using the 'rip-off' or 'blind hook' method, which consists of introducing the drugs inside a container with legal cargo at the port of origin and retrieving them at the port of destination, before the legal cargo is dispatched.

Pollution on board

However, in this case, investigators suspect that the contamination of the container with the drug did not occur at the port of origin, as is usual in 'rip-off' cases, but probably already on board the container ship, given that the bales came wrapped with a net and a rope to pull them. Organizations use this variant to avoid risks in highly controlled and monitored port areas.

The traffickers hoist the bales of drugs onto the ship from an auxiliary vessel during navigation, or at some anchorage, relying on the participation of some member of the merchant ship's crew. This person will then be responsible for introducing the drugs into one of the covered containers that the criminal organization had previously selected.

The proceedings will be presented to the court as soon as possible. Meanwhile, the facts and effects related to the importation are being investigated in an attempt to identify, locate and, if necessary, arrest the people who may be involved in the discovered drug trafficking.