Police have arrested three Dutch citizens and seized at least 20 tonnes of cannabis from a boat off the southern coast, Spanish customs said today.

Police officers found the drug, in compressed resin form, aboard the Nancy II fishing vessel about 120 miles off the south east coast after it had picked up the load in Morocco.

The department said today this was Spain's biggest drug seizure at sea in a decade and one of the five largest busts ever.

Authorities had monitored the boat since it docked in northern Spain earlier this month before sailing to Morocco.

The three Dutch crew members were to appear in court in the southern port of Cadiz.

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