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Court Sentences Four over 651 kg Cocaine Hidden in Banana Container

The ruling affirms DEA-backed undercover policing as lawful, raises questions over port security, signals scrutiny of pallet-substitution smuggling methods.

Los condenados por introducir cocaína por el Puerto de Valencia, durante el juicio.
El tribunal impone 16 y 13 años y medio de cárcel a los principales cabecillas, Fernando M. S. y Onofre G. R., y entre diez y medio y siete a cada uno del resto de acusados, entre ellos los dos jefes del cártel del Puerto, Iván T. R. y Borja M. R.; la multa global es de 785 millones de euros

Overview

  • The Sección Quinta de la Audiencia Provincial de Pontevedra handed down the sentences on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, imposing prison terms from nine years to ten years and seven months for four members of a Málaga-based trafficking network.
  • Judges ordered the four convicted defendants to pay a total of €240 million in fines, allocated as €70 million, €70 million, €50 million and €50 million to the individual defendants.
  • Investigators, acting on a DEA intelligence tip, used about half a dozen undercover officers who posed as port workers to recover 651 kilos of cocaine hidden in a banana container at the Port of Vigo and arrest suspects after a truck was intercepted on April 26, 2023.
  • Forensic testing confirmed the substance and purity, the court found the undercover operation was duly authorized, and it rejected defense claims that police conduct amounted to provocation or fatally tainted the evidence.
  • The alleged ringleader remains a fugitive, the sentence is not final and may be appealed to the Tribunal Superior de Xustiza de Galicia, and the case highlights how traffickers are shifting routes and using pallet-substitution to evade saturated Andalusian quays.