• More than 62 kilos of cocaine base paste hidden in 34 boxes of chocolate have been intercepted.

• Three people have been arrested in Spain, who were in charge of the importation, transport, storage and distribution of the drugs.

April 30, 2026. Customs Surveillance officials from the Tax Agency and agents from the Civil Guard and the National Police, in the framework of a joint operation, have managed to dismantle a criminal organization that was introducing cocaine base using the cargo terminal of the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas airport. The Ecuadorian Prosecutor's Office and Police also collaborated in the operation.

The joint investigation originated after the investigations converged on one of the suspects, who used an import company he owned as a front. This person had the collaboration of a transporter and a third person who had rented a premises in Madrid to the main defendant, where the merchandise was stored.

Thus, in early February 2026, a shipment from the investigated company, consisting of "chocolate tears", was identified, in which the Ecuadorian authorities discovered that a large amount of cocaine base paste was being transported. The police units reported the facts to the Public Prosecutor's Office of both countries, with whom, thanks to rapid coordination, the drug was tracked.

The shipment of the substance was carried out in a very sophisticated manner. In the shipment of more than 400 kilos of merchandise, the cocaine base paste was hidden inside a large part of the chocolates.

The operation has led to the arrest in Madrid of the three members of the organization, all of them male, who are accused of the crimes of integration into a criminal organization and drug trafficking, managing to seize 62.83 kilos of cocaine.

In Spain, the investigation has been carried out by the Regional Customs Surveillance Area of ​​the Tax Agency in Madrid, together with the Judicial Police Team of the Civil Guard of Barajas and members of Group 32 of the Central Brigade (UDYCO) of the National Police, with the collaboration of the Technical Unit of the Judicial Police of the Civil Guard.