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Two tonnes of cocaine worth around £160m held in NCA, AFP raid, six held  

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Zahid Noor
Zahid Noor
Zahid Noor is associated with the Pakistan’s largest media network ARY News from Manchester United Kingdom as a News Correspondent. He also plays a vital role in reporting Sports News for ARY Sports.

LONDON: More than two tonnes of cocaine worth around £160m has been seized and six men arrested in a dramatic operation at sea conducted jointly by the United Kingdom and Australia’s law-enforcing authorities.

The men – one Briton from Stockton on Tees, County Durham, and five Nicaraguans – were arrested on Thursday evening 80 miles off the coast of Plymouth in an operation led by the National Crime Agency (NCA) and supported by the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Border Force.

The suspects were aboard the Kahu – a luxury Jamaican-flagged yacht sailing from the Caribbean. It was escorted back to the UK mainland where a team carried out a deep rummage search and discovered the enormous haul of Class A.

The men, whose ages range from 24 to 49, were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and are in custody awaiting interview.

Matt Horne, NCA deputy director, said: “This is a massive haul of cocaine with an estimated street value of around £160m.

“There’s no doubt these drugs would have been sold on into communities across the UK in such ways as County Lines fuelling more crime and misery.

“Organised crime groups are motivated by money. The deprivation of these drugs will smash a hole in the OCG’s plans and ability to operate.

“Also, the arrests of the men transporting the drugs means the crime group has lost trusted offenders who would have been key to their operation.

Read More: SMUGGLERS HIDE COCAINE IN FACE MASK CONSIGNMENT

“We continue to work with partners at home such as Border Force and those abroad such as the AFP to protect the public from the Class A drugs threat.”

AFP Assistant Commissioner Lesa Gale, said: “Intelligence from Operation Ironside had enabled the AFP to assist international enforcement partners in disrupting an alleged sophisticated criminal network.

“Operation Ironside has opened the door to unprecedented collaboration across law enforcement agencies around the globe.”

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