FOUR Irish nationals have been arrested on the Costa Blanca after Spanish cops smashed a drugs gang.
The criminal operation was smuggling cocaine and hash hidden in industrial machinery to Ireland and the UK.
Nearly 85kgs of coke was seized in the operation, as well as two guns.
The cocaine was stashed inside a drilling machine due to be shipped to Dublin by a firm in the town of Monovar, about a 35-minute drive inland from Alicante.
Police sources say another 340kgs of cannabis resin linked to the gang was found at French customs.
It had been sent via a company in the south-eastern Spanish province of Murcia.
Spanish cops are said to have launched the probe on June 2 after a transport firm based in Murcia reported the arrest of one of its drivers in France a few days earlier.
He was lifted following the discovery of the cannabis resin hidden on his lorry, bound for Liverpool.
A Murcia court authorised detectives to put trackers on the company’s vehicles.
And cops were monitoring as one of the four suspects dropped off the industrial drilling machine due to be shipped to Dublin.
Police then discovered the cocaine inside, which they removed before allowing the shipment be sent to Ireland on June 13 so Gardai could try to identify the people receiving the delivery.
Spanish cops then swooped, lifting the four Irish nationals across the Costa Blanca.
The suspects, who have not been named, were freed on bail after appearing in court.
Cops have yet to make any official comment amid the ongoing criminal probe.
But further arrests have not been ruled out.
In March a Spanish-Irish investigation into the Dublin gang known as The Family resulted in the seizure of around €30million of drugs and the arrests of 20 people.
They hid the narcotics in vehicles that were fitted out with secret compartments.
The criminal operation was smuggling cocaine and hash hidden in industrial machinery to Ireland and the UK[/caption]
