The plan to move-in on the lucrative European cocaine market, especially in Britain, was thwarted in an operation code-named Dark Waters, launched by Spain's National Police counter drugs and organized crime unit and the FBI office in Boston more than three years ago, it was revealed on Friday.

The National Police went public following the arrest of four top members of the Sinaloa cartel – considered to be the world's biggest criminal organization – including a cousin of the gang's leader, Joaquin Guzman, known as "El Chapo", the most wanted drug dealer in the world.

The four were arrested earlier this month in the center of Madrid following the seizure of 373 kilograms of cocaine, worth nearly £15.7 million at street level, stashed in a container which arrived the southern Spanish port of Algeciras, across the bay from Gibraltar, at the end of July...

Raid's on their luxury hotel rooms led to the seizure of $5,500, 3,000 euros and 4,000 Mexican pesos in cash, and a wealth of documents still being analyzed, said a National Police statement.

Counter-drugs operatives across Europe have been waiting for an invasion by the Mexican cartels for the past five years. One British drugs intelligence source said on Friday: "This is what has been anticipated. For many reasons, not least of which is the common language with Spain plus the strategic and historic location of Spain as the gateway to Europe, this was inevitable."

One observer in Madrid said: "The Mexican cartels have been aiming to move-in and dominate the European cocaine scene for some years. And they are giving priority to Britain and Ireland because the bulk of the cocaine that gets into Europe ends-up there."

Counter-drugs officials estimate that up to 40 per cent of the cocaine that passes through Spain is destined for the British Isles.

In Mexico itself the bloody narcotics war over the past six years has claimed more than 50,000 lives.

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Editor's Note: And remember, where the drug cartels exist, so, too, exists the portal for an introduction of jihadist terrorism.


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