Yacht with huge cargo of drugs worth tens of millions of dollars arrested

Yacht with huge cargo of drugs worth tens of millions of dollars arrested

The ship’s crew have been arrested after a yacht carrying £96 million worth of cocaine was intercepted in the Atlantic. A Scottish skipper was among those detained in an international operation targeting an alleged smuggling ring, with further arrests in Marbella.

Three people, including a Scottish skipper, have been arrested after cocaine worth £96 million was seized from a yacht at sea, The Guardian writes.

The trio were arrested as part of an international drug trafficking operation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA). The NCA worked with other agencies in France and Spain to identify a suspected group of drug traffickers who were suspected of supplying the Class A substance to Europe.

The operation resulted in the interception of a Spanish-registered yacht 1,200 miles east of Martinique, an island that is part of the French West Indies.

The ship was intercepted by a French Navy frigate on December 18. Police then seized about 40 bales of cocaine, which weighed approximately 1.2 tons.

The National Crime Agency said the estimated street value would have been around £96 million if it had been mixed with other substances before being sold.

All three crew members were arrested and taken to Martinique to face charges. One of the three is a 29-year-old man from Stornoway on the Isle of Lewis.

The operation later led to the arrest of five people by Spanish authorities in Marbella and Valencia. They include a 62-year-old man, originally from Lincolnshire, and his 24-year-old son. Both currently live in Spain.

They were detained by the Spanish National Police at a restaurant in Marbella on December 19.

All five remain in custody as the investigation continues, The Guardian notes.

The NCA’s international network joined forces with the National Police, French Customs, the French Navy and the Maritime Analytical and Operational Center for Counter-Narcotics (MAOC-N) in Lisbon, Portugal.

NCA Madrid International Liaison Officer Paul Owen said: “This multinational operation prevented a huge shipment of cocaine from reaching Europe and denied huge profits to organized criminals. I have no doubt that some of these drugs were destined for the UK. “Combating these global networks requires international law enforcement cooperation, and I am grateful to our partners in France, Spain, the Caribbean and MAOC-N for their assistance. Working together, we are determined to do everything we can to identify, disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking groups and stop them fueling violence, intimidation and corruption in UK communities.”