Police uncover Ceuta drug tunnel from Morocco built with rails, wagons and pulleys

Spanish police say they have uncovered a hidden tunnel under a warehouse in Ceuta that was used to smuggle hashish from Morocco, with rails, wagons and pulley systems built inside to move the drug shipments.

The tunnel is the second narcotunnel found in the Tarajal industrial area and that the operation in Ceuta had reached 20 arrests during an operation that police said capped a year long investigation into a network accused of receiving hashish from Morocco, storing it in the Spanish enclave and sending it onward to mainland Spain and France.

Spain’s National Police said more than 250 officers took part in the operation across Andalusia, Galicia and Ceuta, carrying out 29 searches, making 15 arrests in its first phase and seizing nearly 1.5 million euros and 66 communication devices.

El Mundo, which cited police investigation material, reported that the entrance was hidden inside the warehouse behind what it described as “a large, soundproof refrigerator,” and that the underground route had rails, wagons and pulley systems for moving bales through different levels before reaching an exit on Moroccan soil.

Police said the investigation began a little over a year ago and was centered from the outset on a group based in Ceuta that handled Moroccan hashish bound for Spain and France.

In its March 27 statement, the Spanish police said one of the investigation’s early breakthroughs was the seizure in Almeria of a 15,000 kilogram shipment, which helped officers identify people involved in negotiating the drug’s origin, arranging delivery and organizing distribution to other points in Europe.

In February 2025, the Guardia Civil said it had found a cavity about 12 meters deep leading to an underground gallery toward the Moroccan border in the same industrial zone, and tied that investigation to 14 arrests and the seizure of more than 6,000 kilograms of hashish hidden in three trucks. At the time, officers said the tunnel may have been used to transport drugs from Morocco.

The latest discovery adds to a broader picture of hashish trafficking pressure with Spain’s Interior Ministry revealing in February 2025 that security forces seized 150,802 kilograms of hashish in 2024 under the special security plan covering the Campo de Gibraltar and surrounding provinces, while authorities said the same plan had led to the seizure of more than 1.38 million kilograms of hashish between mid 2018 and Aug. 31, 2023.

According to the El Mundo account of the case file, surveillance in early 2025 tracked suspects moving large burlap sacks between houses near Tarajal under tight lookout and counter surveillance measures, before later conversations allegedly captured references to a “hole” used to bring in merchandise and to plans for building “another one.”

Investigators cited by the newspaper linked those references to the underground passage found in the warehouse.
El Mundo also reported that arrests in Ceuta later rose to 20 and that judges ordered provisional imprisonment for 14 suspects while other detainees were released pending possible precautionary measures.