Police find massive drug-smuggling tunnel in Spain, complete with underground rail system and cranes

Spanish police have uncovered a sprawling drug-smuggling tunnel, complete with a rail system and underground cranes to smuggle hashish from Morocco into Spain.

Police said in a news release on Tuesday that the structure was hidden beneath a warehouse and extended over three levels, including a descent shaft and a chamber for drug storage. Police said the group operating the tunnel had installed pumping and soundproofing systems that "kept the infrastructure operational without arousing suspicion."

Authorities seized 17 metric tons of the drug and $1.6 million in cash.

Police said 27 people were arrested in the bust and two people headed the network. One, based in Morocco, was arrested on Thursday night and is considered the "narco-architect" and "mastermind of the tunnels," police said, while the other person, based in Ceuta, owned all the seized drugs.

Authorities released video of the bust, showing officers raiding the tunnel and seizing evidence.

Drugs are often trafficked into Spain by sea. In 2023, Spain accounted for 68% of all hashish seizures in the EU, the Reuters news agency reported, citing the latest data from the EU drugs agency.

In January, Spanish police said they busted a network that saw smugglers swim on the high seas to help stash Colombian cocaine on Europe-bound container ships and hijack vessels. That bust was revealed just three days after Spain announced its largest-ever seizure of cocaine at sea.

Last year, police forces dismantled a drug trafficking ring that used what authorities called high-speed "narco boats" to smuggle large quantities of cocaine from Brazil and Colombia to the Canary Islands. The ring allegedly used an abandoned shipwreck as a refueling platform for the speedboats.