Yacht loaded with £40m cocaine bound for London is seized by police

 
Huge haul: the yacht being searched by French officials in the Caribbea
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A yacht has been seized in the Caribbean loaded with up to £40 million worth of cocaine bound for the streets of London.

Two men were arrested on the SY Hygeia Of Halsa after a joint operation involving Scotland Yard, the National Crime Agency and French Customs.

Detectives say they are investigating a London-based organised crime group, with connections to the Caribbean, who are suspected of large-scale importation of class A drugs.

The UK-registered vessel was boarded by French Customs officials off Martinique on Monday as it began a transatlantic crossing. Officers recovered 250kg of cocaine, with a potential street value of between £30 million and £40 million.

Huge drugs haul: boxes containing the cocaine

Police say authorities from Venezuela, the eastern Caribbean, Jamaica and the USA were involved in tracking the ship and alleged gang members.

Hank Cole, head of international op-erations at the National Crime Agency, said: “We have stopped a huge consignment of cocaine close to source. We have no doubt that without this intervention, the drugs would have ended up on the streets where, after being cut, they would have had a likely potential value of £30 million to £40 million.

“Our investigation into the organised crime network involved in this attempt continues.”

Detective Superintendent Neil Thompson, of the Met’s Organised Crime Command, said: “The drugs recovered would have been distributed throughout the streets of London and beyond, generating further criminality and fuelling gang activity.

“These arrests show that there is no criminal that is beyond our reach — if you deal in drugs in any scale we will find you, arrest you, and you will face the consequences of your actions.”

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