National Police smash Atlantic drug ring that used Lanzarote as one of its bases of operations

Spain’s National Police force has announced that it has smashed an international drug ring, which used Lanzarote as one of its bases of operations. The two phases of Operation Black Shadow took place last June and November.

The smugglers used high-speed boats, departing from points in the Canaries and southern Spain to meet “mother ships” carrying drugs from South America in the mid-Atlantic, before returning loaded with cocaine. On June 2025, 48 Arrests were made and 29 searches carried out, 14 of which were on Lanzarote. Last June it was revealed that the criminal organisation used the Telamon shipwreck between Arrecife and Costa Teguise as a refuelling platform for the speedboats, which generally operated at night.

A further round of raids and searches took place in November, in the Campo de Gibraltar province of southern Spain.

70 vehicles, 30 boats, six properties, multiple bank accounts, three firearms, more than 800,000 euros in cash, and cutting-edge technological materials including WIFI jammers and more than 150 mobile phones have been seized

Spanish Police collaborated with the UK’s NCA, the American DEA, the Moroccan DGSN, Europol, and Portuguese, Colombian, French and Cape Verdean authorities during the operation.