MADRID, Oct 8, 2008 (AFP) - Spanish police said Wednesday they had smashed a major international drug trafficking ring, arresting 29 people nationwide and seizing 14 tonnes of hashish.

The gang smuggled in hashish from Morocco aboard a yacht equipped with a double hull where the drugs were hidden.

The drugs were stored in a hangar amid construction materials and were taken by truck to the Netherlands, police said in a statement.

Beside 14 tonnes of hashish, the police seized 27 vehicles, four boats and 350,000 euros in cash in the operation.

They said the total value of the assets seized was 'more than 17 million euros' (23 million dollars).

A total of 29 people -- five Dutch nationals, 11 Moroccans, 10 Spaniards, a Belgian, an Italian and a Romanian -- were arrrested at various locations in the country.

Spain is one of the main points of entry of drugs into Europe, from hashish that has been grown in north Africa, to Latin American cocaine, which is often smuggled in via Africa.

Spanish authorities have seized more than 100 tonnes of hashish since the start of the year.

The largest amount seized was in 1996, when police found 36 tonnes of hashish on a Panamanian-registered cargo ship off the northwest of the country.