Portuguese authorities intercepted a yacht in a drugs raid in the Atlantic Ocean and found 400kg of smuggled cocaine on board.
Vessels from Portugal's Navy and Air Force intercepted the ship, the Italian-registered Il Gioia, 120 miles out to sea as it neared the end of a journey from the Caribbean to Europe.
Officials boarded the vessel and found the haul stashed under the beds inside the yacht, according to Portuguese outlet Correio da Manhã.
Portuguese authorities said in a statement that they believe the yacht was ultimately being operated by a "transnational criminal organisation."
They displayed the seized drugs to the media in large plastic-wrapped bales on a jetty in Portimao, with the boat in the background.
Two crew members were arrested: The skipper, a 58-year-old Italian, and one crew member, a 45-year-old from Montenegro. Neither was named, but both face prosecution in Portugal.
A joint NCA and Portuguese law enforcement operation has resulted in the interdiction of a yacht carrying 400kg of cocaine in the Atlantic. pic.twitter.com/zTRfsknyPt
— NationalCrimeAgency (@NCA_UK) October 5, 2017The raid was carried out on September 29, but was not made public until this week. The UK's National Crime Centre, which published photographs of the seized vessel, said its agents provided intelligence which underpinned the operation.
According to figures from DrugWise, a UK charity which publishes "street values" for illegal substances every year, cocaine sells for around £35 per gram, meaning that 400kg would be worth around £14 million ($18.4 million).
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