Spanish police said on Saturday they had seized three tonnes of cocaine on a boat between the Canary Islands and Africa, matching a similar-sized seizure on Tuesday, Reuters reported. Following the operations, police said Africa had grown in importance as a stopping point for Columbian drug traffickers wanting to smuggle their cargo to Spain and on to Europe. Police arrested eight crewmen -- six Ghanaians, a Mexican and a Ukrainian -- and detained three Colombians in Madrid. On Tuesday, police seized 2.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden on a fishing boat near Tenerife and arrested four crewmen and 14 other people of various nationalities in different parts of the country. Spain, with its long coastline, has for years been viewed as an important entry point for Latin American cocaine to Europe. The country ranks third behind Colombia and the United States in the amount of cocaine it seizes.
