Rabat – Morocco has played a key role in a major anti-drug operation dubbed “Operation Sombra Negra” in Spain.
Canal 24 Horas reported that Spanish security services dismantled a criminal network of around 100 individuals, seizing 57,000 kilograms of cocaine.
The Moroccan General Directorate of National Security (DGSN) contributed to security efforts to dismantle the network, in collaboration with Spain’s National Intelligence Center, Europol, among several other international agencies.
Government Delegate in Andalusia, Pedro Fernandez, said the network had an “extensive organizational structure” in Galicia, Portugal, as well as Girona, Cadiz, Almeria, and the Spanish enclave of Ceuta. The network was also linked to Morocco.
“In short, I wanted to highlight the magnitude of the operation—the territorial spread and the organizational capacity that allowed, across all these areas, a single network to operate and facilitate the entry of drugs, including all the logistical and technological components that made the trafficking possible,” Fernandez said.
The UK’s National Crime Agency, the US, and the European Maritime Analysis and Operations Center for Narcotics also contributed to the major anti-drug trafficking operation, alongside France, Cape Verde, and Colombia.
This is not the first time Morocco has teamed up with international partners as part of its staunch efforts to curb drug trafficking.
One of the latest operations took place on October 29, last year, when Morocco teamed up with Spanish security services to arrest 20 suspects, seizing over 20 tons of cannabis hidden among shipments of green peppers transported from Morocco to Spain through the Port of Algeciras.
The investigation began following intelligence shared by Moroccan authorities, which led to the identification of two refrigerated truck convoys suspected of transporting large quantities of drugs.
In 2025, DGST also contributed to a major drug bust, with Spanish police seizing over two tons of cannabis thanks to precise intelligence from Moroccan security services.
One of the operations also took place in 2022 when Morocco’s intelligence assisted Spain in arresting a terror suspect who planned to commit a terror attack in Murcia.
The DGST had alerted Spanish authorities about the presence of a “very extremist” individual in the European country.
