Madrid - Spanish customs authorities yesterday seized more than five tonnes of Colombian cocaine in a mid-ocean raid, the Finance Ministry said. Officials said that the drugs had a street value of 50 billion pesetas (£239 million) and that 13 people were arrested.
Customs officers boarded the boat about 350 miles west of Spain's Canary Islands and two officers suffered slight injuries in a fight with members of the boat's Spanish crew of eight, the ministry said in a statement.
A further five people were arrested on the Spanish mainland, including the suspected head of the gang from the north-western Galicia region, which is Spain's busiest smuggling area.