Customs Surveillance and Civil Guard intercepted the country’s second-largest pink cocaine shipment last Tuesday after a 22-year-old passenger arrived at Gran Canaria airport with 10.22 kg of the drug, a quantity valued at about one million euros on the street. The traveler, already in prison, was accused of drug trafficking and crimes against public health while also carrying two kilograms of heroin.
The operation unfolded in the afternoon as security forces received a tip from Belgian customs authorities about possible narcotics carried by a young man arriving by plane from Brussels. The Las Palmas Customs Surveillance Operational Unit, in collaboration with Gran Canaria airport’s Civil Guard, set up a device to track the luggage’s owner after the sighting of a suspicious suitcase, according to a joint press release from the agencies.
At the terminal, authorities detained a young man of Dutch nationality who had already collected the luggage at the arrivals area. When the contents of the suitcase were examined, officers found a large bag containing pink material weighing more than ten kilograms, along with other items, plus an additional two-kilogram quantity of another drug. Initial analyses identified the first substance as MDMA, commonly known as ecstasy, a component in the drug’s synthesis, and the second as heroin.
To the prison
Given the evidence, investigators proceeded to arrest the passenger on suspicion of drug trafficking. Sources indicate the detainee died last Thursday at the Telde No. 2 Investigation Court, which was on duty, and he was ordered held in a temporary prison facility.
The 10-kilogram pink cocaine seizure stands as the country’s second-largest of this substance. A prior operation in Ibiza last summer involved 12 arrests and a seizure totaling 13 kilograms. The pink variant bears little relation to classic cocaine and gets its name from its pink appearance and coloring. The composition often includes MDMA, LSD, ketamine, oxycodone, and other substances, producing visual and auditory hallucinations in users.
Pricing and market reach
The drug commands a premium price, with values around 100 euros per gram. This high price tag suggests that more than ten kilograms were destined to supply markets across the archipelago, according to authorities familiar with the case.
This marks the first practically documented seizure of this substance in the islands. Earlier in the year, local police and security forces conducted Operation Titan, leading to the arrest of an automotive-businessman and the seizure of 136 doses of tusi, cocaine, amphetamine, crystal, and Viagra, along with a 4.5‑caliber pistol. In August, a 21-year-old was stopped in the south of Tenerife with small quantities of cocaine and other substances. In Lanzarote, the Tías Local Police reported three separate incidents involving the substance in comparatively minor amounts.