HIBAPRESS – Mohammed Zriouh
The case of smuggling 15 tons of hashish is at the forefront of judicial events in Spain, where the competent courts are following the details of one of the largest international trafficking operations that have been thwarted recently.
The roots of this case go back to the vigilance of the security services, which seized a record shipment that managed to cross from the port of Nador to the European side, revealing the activity of an organized criminal network that possesses large logistical capabilities to smuggle prohibited items through international maritime routes. The smugglers adopted a complex camouflage strategy that tried to exploit the agricultural export sector as a cover for their activity, where a trailer designated for transporting goods was stuffed with thousands of kilograms of hashish amidst a load of vegetables and fruits. The journey began in June 2025 from the Moroccan coasts towards the Spanish port of Almeria, at a time when the truck was actually under close and secret security monitoring, based on prior intelligence reports that monitored suspicious movements of those involved in this file. The detailed investigations showed an unprecedented level of ingenuity in concealment methods, as the perpetrators did not just put the drugs behind watermelon boxes, but went to inventing plastic sweet potato beads specially made in specialized factories to match the natural shape. These engineering tricks were mainly aimed at misleading the advanced customs inspection devices and disrupting the ability of trained dogs to detect the shipment, reflecting the development of the methods that drug cartels have come to adopt to overcome security barriers. In a tactical move, the Spanish authorities allowed the truck to leave the port and continue its way under the so-called "controlled delivery" operation, where its path was tracked precisely through location technology until it settled in an industrial warehouse in the city of Huercal de Almeria. As soon as the shipment reached the presumed distribution point, anti-drug squads raided the site to arrest the accused in the act, thus thwarting a plan that aimed to flood the European markets with narcotic substances with a market value estimated at about 25 million euros. These security efforts culminated in referring the file to the Public Prosecution, which demanded the imposition of the harshest penalties on the five detainees, proposing sentences of up to six years in prison and heavy fines commensurate with the size of the operation. While the trial continues to issue final rulings, the security authorities continue to pursue two other people whose names were mentioned in the investigations, in an attempt to undermine the entire organizational structure of this network, which caused one of the largest seizure operations in the history of southern Spain.
