The Spanish Customs Surveillance Service, in a joint operation with the Civil Guard and National Police, intercepted a semi-rigid boat approximately 500 nautical miles south of the Canary Islands carrying around $500 million of cocaine. Spanish authorities announced on Thursday, February 15, the successful interception and boarding of the smuggling boat off the archipelago.A search revealed the illegal cargo, consisting of 4.35 tonnes of cocaine with a street value exceeding $500 million. The four crew members, including a well-known Galician drug trafficker, of Spanish, Romanian, Moroccan, and Moldovan nationalities, were promptly detained.The operation was a collaboration between the Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre - Narcotics (MAOC-N ) and the Intelligence Centre Against Terrorism and Organized Crime (CITCO).The National Crime Agency (NCA) of the United Kingdom and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) of the United States also provided assistance in the operation. Spanish police also recently announced the success of Operation 'Neptune' launched in November in which officers seized $230m of cocaine and freed eight hostages in a dramatic rescue also off the Canary Islands.Spain is a major drug trafficking route into Europe because of its proximity to the African coast and close cultural ties with Latin America.