$174 Million in Cocaine Found Hidden Under Coconuts in Spain

Valencia, Spain – Customs officers and the Guardia Civil seized 2,600 kilos of cocaine hidden in the false bottoms of coconut boxes that arrived at the Port of Valencia from Ghana, and later arrested two people in Almería. The haul has an estimated street value of about $174 million, converted from about 156 million euros at today's rate using Spanish media reports of about 60 euros a gram, and is not an official figure.

Footage released by the Guardia Civil on Wednesday, November 11, shows officers opening wooden crates of coconuts, prying up boards with a hammer, and uncovering tightly packed brick-shaped bundles in a hidden layer beneath the fruit, before rows of seized packages are stacked on a warehouse floor. Customs officers from Spain's Agencia Tributaria appear in the video.

The Tax Agency and Guardia Civil said two containers were flagged as high risk, loaded in Tema, Ghana, on August 2 and arrived in Valencia on August 22. Investigators found a layer of packets under false bottoms in the wooden boxes; narcotests confirmed the white powder was cocaine.

After the seizure, officers followed the shipment to a warehouse in the La Juaida industrial estate in Almería, where the cargo was unloaded from refrigerated trucks. Two people, described as the importer and the person in charge of unloading, were arrested in Viator, Almería.