PARIS: Customs officials have seized at least 2.4 tonnes of cocaine from a cargo ship off France’s northern coast, a record for the country.
The Carib Palm, a Moldovan-flagged freighter, had sailed from Colombia and was headed to Gdansk in Poland.
It docked at the northern French port of Boulogne-sur-Mer on Thursday night, a source close to the investigation said, confirming a report by France 3 television.
“The ship was intercepted yesterday (Thursday) at 6:30pm at sea and at 8:00pm was brought to the dock at Boulogne-sur-Mer, where the search operation began,” the finance ministry said in a statement.
“The drugs were concealed behind a metal partition.”
Finance minister Michel Sapin described the drugs as “the largest seizure of cocaine” ever in mainland France. The haul has a street value of around 50 million euros ($76 million).
Customs officials were continuing to search the ship, which was carrying raw materials.
The 12 crew members, who are Turkish and Ukrainian, were being held by customs and were set to be formally detained.
