British flagged yacht boarded off coast of Spain had 400 kilos of hashish on board

POLICE and customs agents have seized a British-flagged yacht that had 400 kilos of hashish aboard.

An air patrol which spotted the ketch acting suspiciously off the coast of Chipiona (Cadiz) alerted a customs patrol boat which intercepted the vessel.

Officers who boarded the boat and spotted several suspicious bales arrested the two man crew, who were both Bulgarians.

The intercepted ship was taken to Cadiz port where an in-depth search revealed 12 bales of hashish stowed in different compartments.

The two detained men have been handed over into the custody of the Cadiz courts.

The investigation remains open, with police not ruling out further arrests in the coming days.

This is not the first British linked boat to be seized in the course of the past year.

In October a British drug kingpin was arrested after 3,100kg of hashish were seized from a luxury yacht off the coast of Almeria. 

The Guardia Civil were alerted after an Icelandic aircraft spotted an inflatable boat loaded with packages of hashish next to the yacht. 

Spanish authorities managed to intercept the boat 14 miles off the coast of Almeria, where they arrested the 58-year-old British man and three Polish men.

After searching the yacht, the Guardia Civil discovered 92 packages of hashish weighing 3,100kg. 

In January five arrests were made in Fuengirola on the Costa del Sol, also for drugs smuggling.