Yacht seized with 400 kilo cocaine haul

Four-hundred kilos of “nearly pure” cocaine, which could have been turned into around €160 million-worth of drugs, were found by Portugal’s Polícia Judiciária aboard an Italian-registered yacht that was sailing from the Caribbean to Portugal and confiscated in the early hours of Saturday (September 30).

The yacht’s two crew members, an Italian and a Montenegrin, were arrested and the boat and drugs were brought to Portimão docks.

The operation, which was assisted by the Portuguese air force and navy, took place around 600 nautical miles south of Sagres.

Rosa Mota, who led the investigation carried out by the UNCTE – the national drug trafficking unit – said it is believed the men were part of a “transnational criminal organisation involving European and Latin American countries”.

They were not armed and offered no resistance.

She also revealed that the drugs were hidden under beds and wardrobes. The plan was apparently to bring the cocaine into Portugal and then distribute it to several European countries.