Britain’s crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had seized more than two tonnes of cocaine worth £ 160million (€ 187million) for resale from a yacht intercepted off the south coast from England. Six men aged 24 to 49 – one Briton and five Nicaraguans – were arrested in the operation, carried out Thursday with the support of Australian Federal Police and British Border Police, the NCA said in a statement.
At the time of their arrest, they were approximately 130 kilometers from the coast, aboard a Jamaican-flagged luxury yacht coming from the Caribbean. The drugs, concealed in waterproof black bags, were discovered during a search of the boat, once escorted to the United Kingdom.
“Ironside” survey
According to the NCA, the Australian Federal Police provided information for this operation gathered as part of their “Ironside” investigation, which in June led to a gigantic global crackdown against organized crime thanks to the infiltration of an application (Anom) used to exchange coded messages between criminals.
“There is no doubt that this drug would have been resold in communities across the UK (…) fueling crime and distress,” NCA deputy director Matt Horne said in the statement. “The seizure of this drug will hamper the plans of the organized criminal group and its ability to function,” he added.