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Pictures newly released by the French Navy have shed light on the operation that saw more than 1,000kg of cocaine worth up to an estimated £77m seized from a Jersey-registered boat near Barbados.
The operation took place on 26 February, but details were only made public for the first time last week.
Officials based in the French département of Martinique contacted Jersey's Attorney General, Mark Temple, for permission to search the vessel Maria Del Mar, which had been identified during anti-drugs smuggling patrols – with boat La Combattante, normally based in Fort-de-France in Martinique – around 200 miles south of Barbados.
Having consulted with colleague in Customs and Immigration, Mr Temple granted permission for a search on 26 February.
On boarding the vessel the same day, 26 February, the French authorities discovered 1,100kg of cocaine.
In Jersey, this would have had a street value of between £55m and £77m, according to the Law Officers' Department said.
The four people on board the boat – three Spaniards and one Colombian – were arrested and are in custody in Martinique.
GALLERY...
Photographs courtesy of Forces Armées Antilles.
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