Authorities bust international drug money-laundering ring , July 19, 2011 -- Updated 1211 GMT (2011 HKT)

(CNN) -- Authorities in Spain and the United States have busted an international drug money-laundering ring and seized buildings, cars and cash valued at more than $140 million, the Spanish National Police said Monday. More than 20 people were arrested -- 17 in Spain and 4 in the United States -- during the operation, more than two years in the making.
Authorities accuse those arrested with participating in a drug money-laundering ring that spanned three continents.
As U.S. authorities tell it, cocaine was smuggled in multihundred-kilogram quantities from Colombia to Spain, where it was processed and sold. The proceeds were then sent to a man, identified by the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Florida as Alvaro Lopez Tardon, who would allegedly launder the money with the help of at least two co-conspirators.
Tardon is thought to have received more than $26 million in drug proceeds from Spain between 2004 and the present, the attorney's office said in a statement. He is accused of working with his brother, Artemio Lopez Tardon, who reportedly lives in Spain.
Among the group's favorite ways to launder money was through the purchase and sale of real estate and luxury cars, authorities said. They seized 21 properties in Spain, four in the United States and 60 cars, including one thought to be worth more than $2.8 million.
Spanish police said they also seized some $35 million in cash, kept in 50- and 100-euro bills, in Madrid.

"From the beaches of Miami to the shores of Spain, the fight against crime has no boundaries," said Special Agent in Charge John V. Gillies of the FBI Miami Division in a statement. "This is another outstanding example of an international partnership, this time with the Spanish National Police, that disrupted a major drug organization."