British man arrested after 7kg of cocaine
A British man has been arrested at a Spanish ferry port after police discovered more than seven kilograms of cocaine concealed inside his car.
The 62-year-old was detained at the port of Denia, near the Costa Blanca resort of Benidorm, as he attempted to board a ferry bound for the Balearic Islands. Spanish Civil Guard officers uncovered the drugs hidden inside a specially constructed secret compartment within the vehicle.
Images released by the Civil Guard show the suspect being taken into custody, the seized cocaine, and the concealed compartment where the drugs were found.
In a statement confirming the arrest, a Civil Guard spokesperson said officers stopped the foreign-registered vehicle during a routine preventive check. The car was occupied solely by the driver.
“During the inspection, officers detected a structural modification of the vehicle that was incompatible with its original design,” the spokesperson said. “A more exhaustive search was then carried out, leading to the discovery of several vacuum-packed bags containing a white powder, which was confirmed to be cocaine.”
A small amount of cash and the vehicle were also seized. The suspect has been handed over to the courts and remanded in custody by a judge overseeing the investigation. Authorities are continuing inquiries to determine the origin and intended destination of the drugs, and further arrests have not been ruled out.
Well-placed sources confirmed the detainee is British, although his place of origin in the UK has not been disclosed.
The arrest comes nearly four months after another British national, aged 27, was stopped at the same port with around seven kilograms of cocaine hidden in his car while attempting to board a ferry to Ibiza. That haul was estimated to be worth about £300,000. In that case, police said the suspect initially tried to distract officers by handing over a bottle containing a small amount of cannabis resin before a full search revealed the drugs concealed between the front seats.
Footage released by the Civil Guard at the time showed officers removing packages marked with a lizard logo from a hidden compartment before the suspect was led away in handcuffs.
The latest case adds to a series of recent drug smuggling arrests involving British nationals in Spain. In early October, 69-year-old Martin Renwick Hunter was jailed for nearly four years after being convicted of attempting to smuggle almost £100,000 worth of drugs onto a ferry in Spain’s North African enclave of Ceuta.
Days later, OnlyFans model Clara Wilson, 36, from Nottinghamshire, was sentenced to three years in prison after admitting to trying to smuggle nearly £200,000 worth of drugs into Spain. She was arrested at Barcelona’s El Prat airport after arriving from Thailand with more than 34 kilograms of cannabis in her luggage.
In late May, Spanish police also announced the arrest of a British couple, aged 33 and 34, at Valencia airport after discovering 33 kilograms of marijuana in their suitcases. The pair claimed they were tourists travelling from Thailand.
