Spanish police said Tuesday they had seized three tonnes of cocaine and arrested twelve suspected drug smugglers from Spain, Britain and The Netherlands in a major drugs bust in the north of the country.

The seizure in the northeastern Galicia region was "the biggest for this type of drug on Galician soil since 1999", the police said in a statement, without revealing when the operation took place.

The cocaine was bound for an important smuggling ring based on the Costa del Sol in southern Spain, the statement added.