The police seized a record of cocaine transported by banana in Spain; a woman and 2 suspects were arrested

Spanish police said Wednesday they seized 13 tons of cocaine — the country’s largest haul of the drug — and one arrest.

Police and customs officials seized cocaine in the southern port of Algeciras on October 14 from a container ship that had arrived from Ecuador’s largest city, Guayaquil, a hub for drug trafficking.

The ship was carrying banana crates that hid similarly designed boxes containing cocaine, and intelligence from Ecuadoran police alerted Spanish authorities, the national police said in a statement.

A woman believed to be a colleague of an import company was arrested in the center of the Spanish city of Toledo and two other suspects are still at large, police said.

Spain is a key entry point for drugs in Europe due to its close ties to former Latin American colonies and its proximity to Morocco, a top producer of cannabis.

Large drug shipments have been hidden in banana shipments across Europe in the past. In February, British authorities said they found more than 12,500 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of bananas, breaking the record for the country’s heaviest drug seizure. Last August, customs agents in the Netherlands were seized 17,600 kilograms of cocaine found hidden inside banana crates in the port of Rotterdam. Three months before that, a police dog sniffed 3 tons of cocaine hidden in a banana case in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.