2,600kg of cocaine seized at Valencia port in Ghana coconut shipment

Spanish authorities have seized 2,600 kilograms of cocaine concealed in two shipping containers from Ghana at the port of Valencia.

The Tax Agency and the Civil Guard said the drugs were hidden beneath false bottoms built into wooden boxes carrying coconuts, which had been declared as the cargo.

Two people were arrested in Viator, in the province of Almeria, in connection with the import and unloading of the shipment. They were identified as the importer and the person responsible for unloading the goods.

The containers were loaded at the port of Tema in Ghana on 2 August 2026 and arrived at Valencia on 22 August aboard a container ship.

They were selected for inspection by the ENS (Entry Summary) Unit of the Sub-Directorate-General for Customs Surveillance Operations after being assessed as presenting a high-risk profile during routine international trade controls.

Inspectors discovered false compartments in the wooden crates used to transport the coconuts. Beneath each false bottom was a complete layer of packages of the type commonly used to carry cocaine.

The packages contained a white powder which investigators said had characteristics consistent with cocaine hydrochloride. Screening tests using a narcotest confirmed that the substance was cocaine.

The drugs were not concealed inside the coconuts themselves, but beneath a structure specially built into the transport boxes.

Operation tracked containers to Almeria

After the cocaine had been seized and the relevant customs procedures completed, officers continued to monitor the shipment as it left Valencia.

The goods were moved into two refrigerated lorries, which travelled by road to a warehouse at the La Juaida industrial estate in Almeria.

Surveillance teams observed the unloading operation at the warehouse before arresting the two men allegedly involved in the import and removal of the cargo.

The investigation was carried out jointly by the Valencia and Almeria Operational Units of the Customs Surveillance Service, alongside the Civil Guard’s Organised Crime units and its Fiscal and Border Analysis and Investigation Unit (UDAIFF) in Valencia.

The seizure was announced in a press statement issued by Spain’s Tax Agency and the Civil Guard on 11 November 2026.

It is the latest large cocaine shipment intercepted in Europe after passing through Ghana.