Pubdate: Thu, 15 Jul 1999 Source: Reuters Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited. Author: William Schomberg FOCUS-SPAIN SEIZES EUROPE'S BIGGEST COCAINE HAUL MADRID - Spain has pulled off Europe's biggest cocaine haul, seizing an estimated 10 tons aboard a ship in the Atlantic Ocean and smashing two local gangs linked to Colombian cartels, police said Wednesday. Together with more than 200 kilograms of heroin and another 97 kilograms of cocaine seized in a separate raid the drugs would have an estimated street value of around $1 billion. Police and customs officials backed up by the Spanish navy raided the ship 1,000 miles southwest of the Canary Islands Sunday night as it approached Spanish waters from Panama, police officials said. Sixteen crew members, mostly Russians and Ukrainians plus three Colombians were arrested. Another 37 people had been arrested in Spain by Wednesday afternoon, 17 of them members of two organized crime gangs in Galicia in northwestern Spain which has long been used by drug smugglers as a point of entry for Europe. Also among those arrested Wednesday was a Colombian, believed to be an "ambassador" in Spain for Colombian cartels seeking European contacts. Another Colombian carrying $500,000 in cash was arrested in Madrid. Police also seized 208 kilograms of heroin believed to have been produced in Turkey along with another 97 kilograms of cocaine in a house in the Spanish capital. Police officials said the cocaine found on the ship was packed into more than 300 sacks. "If it is confirmed that they are all full of cocaine then it will be the biggest operation ever in Europe," said Juan Cortino, director general of Spain's national police. Most of the drugs were headed for other countries in Europe, he told a news conference. The gangs in Galicia, headed by suspects known by their nicknames "El Presidente" and "San Isidro," took up to 40 percent of the cocaine as payment for moving the drugs through Spain, police said. The sweep appeared to be second only in world terms to a 20-ton cocaine seizure in the United States in 1995, he said. Previously the biggest cocaine seizure in Europe was made in Italy in 1994 when police discovered about 5.5 tons of the drug, Spanish police said. Documents found in raids in Spain over the last few days provided information on at least six tonnes of cocaine believed to have entered Spain and Portugal in April and May this year, Cortino said. "The operation is not finished and there will probably be more arrests today and tomorrow," he added. The Canary Islands has long been a key shipment point for cocaine from South America and hashish from North Africa heading for Europe. Earlier this week, police in Spain's North African enclave of Melilla arrested 48 people suspected of laundering more than $3 billion from sales of hashish to Europe in one of the biggest crackdowns on the narcotics trade in the region in recent years. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek Rea