Spanish police said Friday they had seized over two tonnes of cocaine and arrested nine people suspected of smuggling large quantities of the drug from Colombia.

The nine - all Spanish nationals - are suspected of being members of the "Piturros" gang, a criminal group linked to drug trafficking in Spain's northwestern Galicia region since the 1980s, a police statement said.

The cocaine was seized from a ship off the Portuguese coast and from several buildings in Galicia in an operation coordinated by EU police force Europol and the US Drug Enforcement Administration, the statement added.

Video: AFP

Spanish police said the gang members were believed to be "in close contact with the main Colombian cocaine distributors".

Europol said the seized cocaine was "destined for a notorious criminal gang originating from the Western Balkans region."

Galicia's rugged Atlantic coast with hundreds of hidden coves, inlets and desolate beaches has for years been a key European gateway for illegal drugs.

Earlier this month, police said they had seized 7.5 tonnes of cocaine in the port of Vigo in Galicia concealed in a shipment of frozen tuna which had been imported by Albanian cartels.

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