• A stevedore, two drug recipients, and a transporter have been arrested and imprisoned following the seizure of a container containing 138 kilos of cocaine in France.

• The drugs were intercepted at the port of Marseille and tracked to their destination in a judicialized "controlled delivery."

July 30, 2025.- Customs Surveillance officers from the Tax Agency, Civil Guard agents, and French Customs services have dismantled a cocaine-extracting organization in the port of Barcelona. The operation, dubbed "Leurre," has led to the arrest and imprisonment of four members of the criminal network (a stevedore, two drug recipients, and a transporter), as well as an investigation into four more individuals. The operations began with the seizure in France of a container containing 138 kilos of cocaine, which underwent a judicially prosecuted "controlled delivery" until its arrival at the port of Barcelona, which led to the subsequent dismantling of the network.

At the end of June, a ship from Chile, which had stopped in Ecuador, docked at the port of Fos-sur-Mer (Port-Saint-Louis-du-Rhône, near Marseille) for an extended stopover. Agents from the Marseille Regional Customs Directorate then decided to deploy a reinforced control system on the containers unloaded at the dock and inspected 180 containers, discovering that one of them, destined for the port of Barcelona, contained cardboard reels with several sacks inside which cocaine tablets were found.

This system, known as "rip-off" or "blind hook," involves criminal organizations taking advantage of the shipment of a container with legal cargo to, without the knowledge of the sender and recipient of the declared merchandise, access the cargo, hide the bags of cocaine, and, at another port, proceed to extract it. A total of 138.5 kg of cocaine were seized.

After coordinating with the General Subdirectorate of Operations of the Customs Surveillance Service of the French Tax Agency, the French National Directorate of Intelligence and Customs Investigations requested authorization from the Aix-en-Provence prosecutor's office to carry out an international controlled delivery in order to identify and arrest the recipients of the narcotics. The JIRS (Specialized Interregional Tribunal) in Marseille took over the case and entrusted the investigation to the DNRED. Customs cooperation with the Spanish authorities was organized within a few days under the supervision of the French JIRS. The measure was ratified by the Anti-Drug Prosecutor's Office and the Spanish judicial authorities, and a joint investigation team was formed by the Catalan Customs Surveillance Office and the UDAIFF of the Civil Guard at the port of Barcelona.

 Upon arrival in Barcelona on July 14, the container was under continuous surveillance until the early hours of the 17th, when investigators detected that a group of people had entered the container, removed the bags, and placed them back into a second container.

Secure delivery of the container to Terrassa

The drugs were tracked until they were unloaded at a warehouse in the Can Parellada industrial estate in Terrassa. A surveillance operation was set up until the people inside left the warehouse, at which point two Spanish nationals were arrested.

During the search of the warehouse, three vehicles (a truck, a van, and a car) were seized, along with various materials used in indoor marijuana cultivation facilities, such as ventilation systems, lighting, and containers.

That same afternoon, searches were conducted at the homes of the two detainees and a third suspect, located in the Barcelona towns of Sant Feliu de Llobregat, Corbera de Llobregat, and Vacarisses. Mobile phone devices, computer equipment, and relevant documentation were seized, including a lease for another industrial warehouse located in the municipality of Rubí.

The lease agreement allowed for a search of the latter warehouse, where agents located material linked to marijuana cultivation. A drug-sniffing dog also detected the presence of narcotic traces in backpacks and inside the warehouse.

Weapons confiscated at the stevedore's home

Following investigations into access to the port of Barcelona, the truck driver who drove the truck to Terrassa and the stevedore who operated the crane used to move and handle the containers were identified, leading to their arrest on July 24 and 26, respectively. All those arrested were brought before a court and remanded in custody.

During the search of the stevedore's home, two brass knuckles, a Taser gun, a 12-gauge shotgun, a big game rifle, a 9mm sporting handgun, a .22-caliber rifle, an air gun, and a vehicle were seized.

During the search, the stevedore who was the subject of the investigation and the owner of the property was unreachable, and a search operation was established to locate him. Investigators discovered he was staying in a hotel and was eventually arrested on a street near Sants station.

The operation is ongoing, and further arrests related to the criminal group's logistical or financial infrastructure are not ruled out. The 28th Court of Instruction of Barcelona is hearing the case.