Father and son hoping for £96,000,000 bonus are arrested instead
A group of three Brits, including a father and son, have been arrested after they were found with £96,000,000 worth of cocaine.
The drug bust occurred 1,200 miles east of Martinique when a Spanish-registered yacht the pair were using to transport the drugs was boarded by cops.
Officers from the National Crime Agency worked alongside the French Navy and Spanish police to intercept the massive shipment of 40 bales of cocaine, weighing 1.2 tonnes.
Police in Marbella arrested a 62-year-old British national from Lincolnshire and his 24-year-old son, and a 29-year-old crew member from Stornoway, Scotland, was also arrested.
The group remains in custody as police investigate the drug trafficking operation which would have seen a massive influx of cocaine into Europe.
The National Crime Agency’s Madrid International Liason Officer, Paul Owen, said: ‘This multi-national operation has seen a huge consignment of cocaine prevented from reaching Europe, and huge profits denied to organised criminals.
‘I have no doubt that some of these drugs were destined for the UK. Tackling these global networks requires international law enforcement co-operation, and I’m grateful to our partners in France, Spain, the Caribbean and MAOC-N for their assistance.
‘Working together we are determined to do all we can to target, disrupt and dismantle drug trafficking groups, and prevent them from fuelling violence, intimidation, and decay in UK communities.’
Earlier this year, Irish customs officers seized 2,253 kilos of suspected cocaine worth from a cargo vessel off the southeast coast of Ireland.
An elite Irish army unit stormed the Panamanian cargo ship suspected of carrying significant amounts of drugs, worth around €157 million (£135 million).
The large vessel was reportedly attempting to flee when the Naval Service closed in on it off the Co Cork coast.
Two men – from the UK and Eastern Europe – have since been arrested under the country’s anti-gangland legislation.
Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk.
For more stories like this, check our news page.