Police seize more than 2.6 tonnes of cocaine off Portugal

ROME, July 27 (Reuters) – Police authorities have seized more than 2.6 tonnes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €500 million ($570 million), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal, Italy’s border and customs police said on Monday.

• The drug was found aboard an “ultra-fast ocean-going rigid inflatable boat”, which smugglers typically use to recover illicit cargoes dropped at sea by large ships arriving from South America, the Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement.

• Four people aboard the vessel were arrested – two Spaniards, a Gibraltar resident and an Albanian man living in Italy.

• The operation was conducted in cooperation with Spanish and Portuguese authorities, with Italian prosecutors in the northern city of Brescia coordinating investigations.

• “The wholesale value of the cocaine is estimated at approximately €78 million. Once delivered to their destination and diluted for retail distribution, the narcotics could have generated total revenues of around €500 million”, the statement said.

($1 = 0.8772 euros)

(Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Giulia Segreti)