Cocaine worth more than £350m found bobbing about in the sea off Italy

The bundles were equipped with a luminous tracking device Credit: AP

More than £350 million worth of cocaine has been seized by police after it was found bobbing about in the sea off Italy. The 70 waterproof packages, weighing two tonnes in total, were found strung together with fishers' netting and the contents kept dry with plastic wrapping when the bundles were fished from the waters near Sicily.

The drugs were stored in about 70 carefully sealed waterproof packages

The waterproof parcels were equipped with a luminous tracking device, the Guardia di Finanza said.

Police believe the 1,600 packets held in 70 bundles had been left by a cargo ship for it to be picked up by another vessel.

Police aircraft flew over the area as a precaution to spot any other cocaine bundles that might have separated from the netting.

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Deputy prime minister and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini praised the police efforts in Tweet. He said: "Congratulations to the Guardia di Finanza for this extraordinary operation: (I am) against all drugs and for life, no matter what".

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