Joe Wallen
ONE of the world’s biggest hauls of cocaine has been intercepted and landed in Cadiz.
The £200 million seizure was found on a tug-boat sailing between Madeira and the Azores.
The mammoth 3.7 tonne haul, intercepted by Spain’s coast guard, came about after a tip off from the UK’s National Crime Agency (NCA).
The boat, which flew a Comoros islands flag, was believed to be on route to Europe, probably Spain, from Colombia.
Its seven-strong crew – six men from Turkey and one from Azerbaijan – were arrested after an extensive search found 165 individual packages of cocaine, hidden beneath the galley floor.
Each package contained around 23 kilos of powder.
Mark Blackwell from the NCA, said: “Seizing this quantity of cocaine represents a major disruption to international crime groups, depriving them of revenue running into the hundreds of millions of pounds.”
“We’re working with colleagues in Europe and around the world to disrupt organised criminals in any way we can, and to protect European borders from attempts to smuggle illegal commodities through them,” he added.
