Spanish authorities have seized 2,600 kilograms of cocaine that arrived at the port of Valencia hidden in two shipping containers from Ghana, according to a press release issued on 11 November 2026 by Spain’s Tax Agency and the Civil Guard.

The drugs were found concealed amongst the goods in the two containers, hidden in false bottoms in wooden boxes used to transport coconuts, the declared cargo.

The operation ended with the arrest of two people in Viator, in the province of Almeria, in connection with the import and unloading of the goods. They were identified as the importer of the cargo and the person in charge of unloading it.

According to the Spanish authorities, the containers were loaded on 2 August 2026 at the port of Tema, Ghana, and arrived at the port of Valencia on 22 August aboard a container ship.

They were selected for inspection by the Entry Summary Unit of the Customs Surveillance Service, which considered that they presented a high risk profile during routine controls on international trade.

During the inspection, investigators detected double bottoms in the wooden boxes carrying the coconuts. The cocaine was not hidden inside the coconuts themselves, but under a false structure built into the boxes used to transport them.

The containers were then followed under surveillance. They were transferred from the Valencia docks to two refrigerated trucks, which travelled by road to an industrial warehouse in the La Juaida estate in Viator, Almeria.

Tactical surveillance of the warehouse led to the arrest of the two men.

The operation involved the Valencia and Almeria Operational Units of Customs Surveillance, as well as the Organised Crime unit and the Fiscal and Border Analysis and Investigation Unit of the Civil Guard in Valencia.

The seizure is the latest in a series of large cocaine consignments intercepted in Europe after passing through Ghana.

In September, French customs authorities seized nearly 3.9 tonnes of cocaine at the northern port of Dunkirk, concealed in a container carrying plastic waste that had arrived from Ghana, prompting an investigation by Ghana’s Narcotics Control Commission into how the shipment moved through the country.

Spanish authorities have not yet named any Ghanaian suspects in connection with the Valencia seizure, and have not said whether any arrests have been made in Ghana.

The Tax Agency said investigations remain open to determine the links of those arrested to money laundering networks and to other logistics points in Spain.