A joint operation by the Tax Agency and the Guardia Civil

• He intended to extract 13 kilos of cocaine that was hidden inside a container

• The drugs would be valued at 468,000 euros

July 15, 2022.- The Customs Surveillance Service of the Tax Agency in Las Palmas, in a joint operation with agents from the Tax and Border Section of the port of La Luz, has arrested a stevedore in the port of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for trying to extract 13 kilos of cocaine that were hidden in a container at the port.

The operation began after an exhaustive risk analysis was carried out over the last few months on the merchandise transported by ships from Latin America and destined for the port of La Luz, whether in transit or definitively. Following this analysis, several containers stowed on a ship from Brazil were selected for monitoring and control.

During this monitoring and control process, on June 30, a stevedore, who was working at the time, was caught manipulating the ventilation compartments of a refrigerated container in one of the port's container terminals. This fact aroused the suspicions of investigators, who proceeded to arrest the stevedore after verifying that a total of twelve rectangular packages containing cocaine were hidden inside one of the container's ventilation compartments.

This intervention has dealt a new blow to international organised crime that uses this type of " modus operandi ", preventing the substance from entering the illicit market.

The cocaine, valued at around 468,000 euros, along with the detainee, the clues and the evidence collected, were handed over to the Judicial Authority on Duty in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, who ordered preventive detention for the alleged perpetrator.