Police said that a major cocaine smuggling operation, which used a network of speedboats to transport drugs from South America to Canary Islands.

About four tonnes of cocaine smuggling from Brazil and Colombia was confiscated and 48 suspects were arrested in a raid in Fuereventura, Gran Carnaria and Lanzarot.

Spain’s Polisia National said the gang used 11 so -called narco boats to smuggle drugs in a complex operation in Atlantic, which included using an abandoned debris in the sea as a fuel platform.

Police forces from Europe, UK, as well as South America and America were involved in planning raids, Operation Black Shadow was dubbed.

The UK National Crime Agency (NCA) confirmed that a British citizen was one of the arrested people.

Europeol said the gang used speedboat, “repeated, departing from strategic points in the Atlantic Ocean to transport a mother ship to the transport of cocaine”.

Investigators revealed that the gang “used a complex encrypted communication system, including satellite terminals, hard-to-traffo phones and the use of a coded language to get out of law enforcement”.

Police said there were months in the raid plan and searched 29 properties, 69 vehicles were seized – in which boats and jet ski – and cash and firearms were recovered.

The raid description highlights the complexity of the network. International drug smuggled gangs are used to obtain drugs in Europe, a major market for South American-based cartel.

Spanish police said Operation “had eliminated one of the largest criminal outfits dedicated to cocaine smuggling”.

Bal also said that he had identified a local network in the Canary Islands responsible for distributing cocaine after coming from South America.

In the raid footage published by the Spanish police, armed and masked officers raided several houses, arrested the suspects and carried out the discoveries.

This is not the first time the police have stopped a large amount of cocaine bound cocaine for the Canary Islands, a Spanish region and the popular tourist destination is located about 100 km (62 mi) from the West African coast.

Police announced in December that they had stopped a venezuela fishing boat at a distance of 1,000 miles in the sea.

This vessel was discovered – which was so dilapidated that it was drowned while taking it to the shore – carrying 3.3 tonnes of cocaine.

Commenting on the latest raids, a NCA spokesman said: “With our international partners, we are tireless in our efforts to deal with drug trafficking on the boundaries, ensuring that it seized before reaching the UK criminal supply chain.”