UK authorities have seized over 2 tonnes of cocaine in a raid on a luxury yacht off the coast of southern England, the National Crime Agency said Saturday.
British authorities said they arrested six people on Thursday evening after discovering the drugs (Cocaine) with an estimated street value of 160 million pound sterling ($221 million) on a Jamaican-flagged yacht sailing from the Caribbean.
The arrests were made as part of an operation led by the NCA and supported by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Border Force.
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Border Force’s cutter Searcher and coastal patrol vessel Alert had covertly identified and monitored the yacht’s movements, the NCA said.
Deputy director Matt Horne said: “There’s no doubt these drugs would have been sold on into communities across the UK in such ways as county lines fuelling more crime and misery.
“Organised crime groups (OCG) are motivated by money. The deprivation of these drugs will smash a hole in the OCG’s plans and ability to operate.”
Mr Horne explained that the arrests of the men transporting the drugs means the crime group will have lost trusted offenders who would have been key to their operation.
“We continue to work with partners at home such as Border Force and those abroad such as the AFP to protect the public from the Class A drugs threat,” he added.
(With inputs from agencies)
