FOCUS-SPAIN SEIZES EUROPE'S BIGGEST COCAINE HAUL

MADRID - Spain has pulled off Europe's biggest cocaine haul,
seizing an estimated 10 tons aboard a ship in the Atlantic Ocean and
smashing two local gangs linked to Colombian cartels, police said Wednesday.

Together with more than 200 kilograms of heroin and another 97
kilograms of cocaine seized in a separate raid the drugs would have an
estimated street value of around $1 billion.

Police and customs officials backed up by the Spanish navy raided the
ship 1,000 miles southwest of the Canary Islands Sunday night as it
approached Spanish waters from Panama, police officials said.

Sixteen crew members, mostly Russians and Ukrainians plus three
Colombians were arrested.

Another 37 people had been arrested in Spain by Wednesday afternoon,
17 of them members of two organized crime gangs in Galicia in
northwestern Spain which has long been used by drug smugglers as a
point of entry for Europe.

Also among those arrested Wednesday was a Colombian, believed to be an
"ambassador" in Spain for Colombian cartels seeking European contacts.

Another Colombian carrying $500,000 in cash was arrested in Madrid.
Police also seized 208 kilograms of heroin believed to have been
produced in Turkey along with another 97 kilograms of cocaine in a
house in the Spanish capital.

Police officials said the cocaine found on the ship was packed into
more than 300 sacks.

"If it is confirmed that they are all full of cocaine then it will be
the biggest operation ever in Europe," said Juan Cortino, director
general of Spain's national police.

Most of the drugs were headed for other countries in Europe, he told a
news conference.

The gangs in Galicia, headed by suspects known by their nicknames "El
Presidente" and "San Isidro," took up to 40 percent of the cocaine as
payment for moving the drugs through Spain, police said.

The sweep appeared to be second only in world terms to a 20-ton
cocaine seizure in the United States in 1995, he said.

Previously the biggest cocaine seizure in Europe was made in Italy in
1994 when police discovered about 5.5 tons of the drug, Spanish police
said.

Documents found in raids in Spain over the last few days provided
information on at least six tonnes of cocaine believed to have entered
Spain and Portugal in April and May this year, Cortino said.

"The operation is not finished and there will probably be more arrests
today and tomorrow," he added.

The Canary Islands has long been a key shipment point for cocaine from
South America and hashish from North Africa heading for Europe.

Earlier this week, police in Spain's North African enclave of Melilla
arrested 48 people suspected of laundering more than $3 billion from
sales of hashish to Europe in one of the biggest crackdowns on the
narcotics trade in the region in recent years.