Police in Spain announced on Wednesday that they had seized 331 kilograms (730 pounds) of heroin in one of the country's largest-ever drug busts. The haul was worth some 120 million euros ($142.5 million).

A 263 kilogram of the high-purity heroin was discovered at the port of Barcelona, hidden inside a shipment of cement that had been sent from Turkey, according to Interior Minister Juan Ignacio Zoido.

The rest was found in the residences of four suspects who were detained as part of the police operation and during an attempted transaction that went wrong. The four include two Dominicans, an Ecuadorian and a Spaniard between the ages of 30 and 45. All have been charged with drug trafficking.

The haul was "one of the biggest seizures of heroin ever carried out in Spain in a single intervention," the interior ministry said.

In a single seizure, police have surpassed the 253 kilogram-total discovered by all branches of Spanish police in 2016.

es/rc (AFP, EFE)