Updated on: March 31, 2026 / 1:28 PM EDT / CBS/AFP
Spanish police said Tuesday they uncovered a sprawling, technologically sophisticated and “maze-like” underground tunnel used to smuggle tons of hashish from Morocco to the Spanish North African exclave of Ceuta and into Europe.
Authorities said the structure was hidden beneath a warehouse and extended over three levels, including a descent shaft and a chamber for drug storage. Investigators said the traffickers had installed pumping and soundproofing systems that “kept the infrastructure operational without arousing suspicion.”
Police described the bottom of the tunnel, which led directly to Morocco, as resembling “a maze typical of a mine,” equipped with trolleys that ran on a rail system of complex construction and “characteristic of perfectly designed feats of engineering.” Bales of hashish were prepared and stored on the middle level and lifted by “a system of cranes and pulleys designed to move heavy loads,” officials said.
The entire structure is reported to be 19–62 feet deep, but investigators could not determine its full length because sections were flooded, officer Antonio Martinez said at a press conference. The tunnel measured about four feet high and nearly three feet wide and was described as “well-equipped” and “purpose-built” by “an extremely powerful organization” that coordinated with other groups to transport drugs by speedboats and fishing vessels.
Authorities released video showing officers raiding the tunnel and seizing evidence.
The probe began in February 2025. Over several months of operations in Ceuta and mainland Spain, police seized more than 17 tons of hashish and $1.6 million in cash and arrested 27 people, including the network’s two suspected leaders. One leader, arrested Thursday night and based in Morocco, is considered the “narco-architect” and “mastermind of the tunnels,” while the other, based in Ceuta, owned the seized drugs. The Morocco-based suspect is also suspected of operating another drug tunnel dismantled in Ceuta last year.
Spain’s geographic position — proximity to Morocco, a major cannabis producer, and close ties with Latin America — makes it a key entry point for drugs into Europe. The small Mediterranean exclaves of Ceuta and Melilla, adjacent to Morocco, form the EU’s only land borders with Africa.
Smugglers frequently traffic drugs by sea. In 2023 Spain accounted for 68% of all hashish seizures in the EU, Reuters reported citing data from the EU drugs agency. In January, Spanish police uncovered a network that used swimmers at sea to stash Colombian cocaine on Europe-bound container ships, a bust revealed days after Spain announced its largest-ever cocaine seizure at sea. Last year, authorities dismantled a ring that used high-speed “narco boats” to move large quantities of cocaine from Brazil and Colombia to the Canary Islands, allegedly using an abandoned shipwreck as a refueling platform.
