As much cocaine in two years as in the entire 21st century: the drugs seized at the port of Barcelona
Since 2017, no drug-related incidents have been reported at the Tarragona docks.
BarcelonaAlmost 70 tons in 25 years. This is the amount of cocaine that Customs Surveillance has seized at the port of Barcelona since 2000. In the last two and a half years, from 2023 to August 2025, 56% of this drug has been seized—almost 39 of the 70 tons—according to transparency data. This increase is a consequence of greater police efficiency, but above all because the port of Barcelona has become a one of the five ports of Europe with increased international drug trafficking activity, especially due to shipments originating from Guayaquil, Ecuador, and because mafias are already established in Catalonia.
In just one year, the quantities seized quadrupled, and in 2023, security forces operating at the port found 21 containers of cocaine inside—14 originating from Ecuador—containing almost 19 tons of drugs. The fact that Barcelona has become one of the most important ports in Europe, with a growing volume of goods—almost four million containers pass through the port facilities annually—has led criminal organizations to focus on the Catalan capital, turning it into one of the major gateways for cocaine entry into the Old Continent. Mafias control the sea routes and ports of origin, and have agreements with local networks to ensure the drugs reach the European market.
Eight years without operations
However, while cocaine prices have grown exponentially in Barcelona, not a single gram has been seized in the port of Tarragona for eight years. The last successful Customs Surveillance operation was in 2017, and less than three kilograms of white powder were seized. The fact that container traffic has been residual in Tarragona since 2022 makes it a difficult destination for smuggling drugs into the Iberian Peninsula. The few containers that arrive from South America arrive sparsely and are closely monitored by the Civil Guard, which operates within the port infrastructure. Most traffic involves bulk liquids and solids—from chemicals to animal feed—and there are very few regular lines transporting, for example, tropical fruit, a type of product that drug traffickers exploit to hide drugs inside the container.
In fact, last year, 2.6 tons of cocaine were seized in Barcelona, traveling in vegetable fibers inside a container from Guayaquil and destined for a paper company in the Tarragonès region.
Other substances
Unlike cocaine, which enters primarily by sea from both South and Central America, the presence of other drugs is practically residual: seizures of marijuana, ecstasy, and heroin are anecdotal. However, in the first half of this year, the Civil Guard seized nearly 796 kilos of marijuana in the port of Barcelona. This is the first time in the 21st century that this has happened, given that Catalonia has historically been a producer and exporter of this drug. However, in recent months, shipments of marijuana from Thailand and Canada have begun to be detected, especially through El Prat Airport.
The second most seized drug in the last 25 years in the port of Barcelona is hashish: 6.5 tons accumulated in operations recorded over eight years. Generally, the mafias that control this drug—Moroccan and Algerian—introduce it into Catalonia both by land and sea, but in the latter case thanks mainly to the powerful drug trafficking networks held by criminal groups.