ILLEGAL TREASURE

Spanish Police Nab Ship Hoarding Tons of Cocaine Aboard

The ship’s payload was said to weigh 3.5 metric tons.

A mostly Turkish boat crew decided to spend the days before Easter smuggling some delights into Spain: 3.5 metric tons of cocaine. Spanish police said Sunday they intercepted a 65-foot-long ship Wednesday after they noticed it trying to hide in a fleet of larger fishing boats, according to the Associated Press. Once they climbed aboard, they found the crew—four Turkish citizens and one Georgia citizen—carrying the heavy payload in the ship’s fuel tank. Police arrested the five crew members, who they said likely brought the drugs in from South America. The ship was found about 300 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands, part of what authorities have dubbed the “African route” of drug traffickers smuggling drugs into Europe.