Canary Islands: 48 arrested in international cocaine gang bust

Police say smugglers used a network of speedboats to ferry drugs from South America to the Spanish islands.

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Almost four tonnes of cocaine trafficked from Brazil and Colombia were seized and 48 suspects arrested in raids across Fuerteventura, Gran Canaria and Lanzarote.

Spain's Policia Nacional said the gang used 11 so-called narco boats to smuggle the drugs across the Atlantic in a complex operation that involved using an abandoned wreck at sea as a refuelling platform.

Police forces from Europe, including the UK, as well as South America and the US were involved in planning the raids, dubbed Operation Black Shadow.

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed that a British national was among those arrested.