British Royal Navy in £240m cocaine seizure

The British Royal Navy has made its largest ever seizure of cocaine with a haul worth more than £240 million (€250 million).

HMS Iron Duke seized more than five and a half tonnes of the drug in an operation off the coast of South America.

The 138-foot fishing boat MV Cristal was spotted by a Navy helicopter crew in an area known for trafficking, which led to a dramatic swoop with the US coast guard and another British ship RFA Fort George. In total 212 bales of cocaine were found, weighing about 26 kg each. The crews then sank the drug smugglers' boat.

Commander Andrew Stacey said that an armed helicopter and rigid inflatable boats were sent to intercept the ship on September 15.

His crew then spent more than 24 hours painstakingly scouring the vessel for narcotics.

The drugs were hidden under the ship's regular stores, beneath a concrete floor and steel panels.

Tonnes of stock had to be moved, the hard floor broken up with sledge hammers and metal panels unbolted before the stash was revealed. The cocaine was stored on the Iron Duke for around 24 hours - because there was so much of it some had to be kept on deck under armed guard.

Cdr Stacey said: "We are very well prepared to defend ourselves. It was a big quantity and I was conscious of the fact that some people might want it back, but they would have a tough time getting it back from us."

Key facts - on cocaine

• According to the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), 65 per cent to 70 per cent of cocaine in the UK comes from Columbia, Venezuela or Ecuador. Most of the remainder comes from Peru and Bolivia.

• A "significant percentage" of the drug is moved from Venezuela via sea or air, according to Soca.

• Cocaine being taken to Europe is mostly hidden on cargo ships, fishing boats or yachts. The vessels can be loaded up in international waters, or receive the stash via an air drop, Soca said.

• Spain and Portugal are key entry points to Europe for gangs trafficking the substance, according to Soca's UK Threat Assessment for 2009/10. Some gangs use Irish ports as a drop-off point.

• The proportion of people who use Class A drugs in Britain fell from 3.4 per cent in 2006/07 to three per cent in 2007/08, but this remained higher than a decade before when it stood at 2.7 per cent. Soca puts the increase down to a rise in the use of cocaine.

• The wholesale price of the drug has also risen; during last year it went up to between £36,000 and £40,000 per kilo. By March this year it had reached £45,000. However, the purity dropped to less than 20 per cent in the same month, showing that dealers are mixing it with greater quantities of other substances.

• It is estimated that 60 to 80 tonnes of cocaine and heroin is smuggled into the UK each year. Britain's sea ports dealt with nearly 600 million tonnes of freight in 2007.