Nine men have been charged with drug trafficking after the British coast guard seized more than 2 tonnes of cocaine off the east coast of Scotland, French and British officials said yesterday.
French customs shared “specific information allowing two ships from the Royal Navy and the British coast guards to board a tug 100km east of Scotland carrying a very large quantity of cocaine, more than 2 tonnes” on Thursday, it said in a statement.
The drugs were found when the HMS Somerset and UK Border Force cutter Valiant intercepted the Hamal, a 35m tugboat registered in the Marshall Islands and owned by a Ukrainian company.
Britain’s National Crime Agency said nine men aged from 26 to 63 would appear before an Aberdeen court today, charged with drug trafficking offenses.
“This is a potentially significant seizure of illegal drugs,” John McGowan, from the agency’s Border Policing Command, said in a statement. “The exact amount of cocaine on board is yet to be determined and the search is likely to continue for some time.”
French customs identified the ship after it left the Canary Islands for northern Europe in mid-April by an unusual route that skirted Britain.
The boat’s suspicious itinerary meant officials feared that cocaine from South America had been loaded in the Canary Islands, French customs said.
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