Portuguese police seized 9.4 tons of cocaine Monday in the port of Lisbon and arrested eight people in Spain and Portugal in further searches, local media reported.
The drugs arrived in Lisbon on Dec. 22, aboard a refrigerated container that contained 24 tons of frozen octopus. Of the container's 635 boxes, 235 were filled with cocaine, dissolved in water which also contained some traces of octopus.
The operation, which smashed a network that had imported cocaine to the Iberian Peninsula, was part of a joint anti-narcotics operation with Spain, code-named Operation Arcos.
Police carried out searches in the Spanish cities of Ilescas, Salamanca and and Madrid. They arrested five people and confiscated 50,000 euros (73,500 U.S. dollars) in cash, mobile phones, laptop computers, two cars and documents used for trafficking drugs and laundering money.
In Portugal, police arrested three people, including a woman, and seized cash and equipment.
The drugs had been packed in Venezuela and were due to be shipped on to Spain by a Portuguese shipping company.
Source: Xinhua
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