Friday, 6 October 2006, Royal Navy

The Royal Navy has helped seize a haul of cocaine, with an estimated value of £60m on Britain's streets, from a ship off the coast of West Africa. <br />Nearly two tonnes of the drug was found stashed below deck on the 100-feet long Panamanian-registered freighter. <br />Acting on British intelligence, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll was diverted from exercises to take Spanish customs officials to stop Ster II. <br />The six West African crew members put up no resistance, the Royal Navy said. <br />The Spanish customs team were flown out to join Argyll in Navy helicopters before boarding the target freighter in the Atlantic, 1,600 miles south of the Canary Islands. <br />Among its crew were five Senegalese and one person from Guinea Bissau. <br />British officers had worked with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and law enforcement authorities from Spain, France and the US to trace the cocaine. <br />On Friday, the Argyll and the captured freighter were heading for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands where they are expected to arrive next weekend.

Friday, 6 October 2006, Royal Navy

The Royal Navy has helped seize a haul of cocaine, with an estimated value of £60m on Britain's streets, from a ship off the coast of We...

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