Navy seizes £100m of cocaine

A speedboat believed to have been used to smuggle cocaine worth £100 million was burnt after it was intercepted by the Royal Navy.

The Ministry of Defence said it was standard practice to sink vessels used by smugglers to prevent them from being used again.

Sailors aboard HMS Lancaster seized 22 bales of pure cocaine from a speedboat near Puerto Rico, the Ministry of Defence has said.

The drugs, which have an estimated street value of £100 million, were handed over to the Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo and then the authorities in Puerto Rico.

The Royal Navy mobilised a Lynx helicopter and high-speed pursuit boat in order to intercept the speedboat suspected of smuggling drugs.

The Ministry of Defence said that the three people on board initially tried to dispose of the evidence by throwing the drugs overboard, but this was recovered by divers.

The suspected drugs smugglers ultimately cooperated with the Royal Navy

The crew of a Royal Navy warship has seized a stash of cocaine with an estimated street value of £100 million after sailors boarded a speedboat near Puerto Rico, the Ministry of Defence has said.

HMS Lancaster made the bust after the boat - which was concealed by a tarpaulin - was spotted by a US Customs and Border Agency aircraft in the Caribbean Sea.

Three suspected smugglers and the 680kg haul of cocaine were handed over to the Coast Guard Cutter Sapelo and then the authorities in Puerto Rico.