MADRID (AFP)--Police in Spain detained four people, including two teenagers, on Saturday who were attempting to smuggle 1,400 kilos (3,080 pounds) of hashish into the country on a rubber dinghy, police said.
Police intercepted the dinghy near Punta Polacra on Spain's southeastern Mediterranean coast in the early hours of Saturday and seized the drugs which they suspect came from Morocco, a statement said.
Two of the passengers of the boat threw themselves into the sea when police neared and attempted to swim to shore to escape arrest but were picked up by the authorities.
Police gave no street value for the drugs, saying only that the amount seized would have been enough to make 5.6 million doses of hashish.
The two detained adults were identified as 29-year-old Hassan L., and 49-year-old Bagdad F. while the two minors, who are both 17 years old, were not named.
Spain is the main gateway to the European market for hashish from Morocco, the world's second-biggest grower after Afghanistan of cannabis, from which the drug is made.
Moroccan authorities have been accused of failing to develop the economy of the northern Rif region, which relies heavily on cannabis cultivation.
Spanish authorities seized more than 100 ton of hashish last year.
Click here to go to Dow Jones NewsPlus, a web front page of today's most important business and market news, analysis and commentary: http://www.djnewsplus.com/access/al?rnd=99Qg%2BCjSiFcScWejKNf%2FAg%3D%3D. You can use this link on the day this article is published and the following day.

Publié le 03 janvier 2009 Copyright © 2009 Dowjones