The French navy has seized nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine, worth $610m (£540m) off the coast of West Africa, French authorities have said.
Two French naval vessels operating as part of Operation Corymbe intercepted the enormous cocaine haul from an unflagged fishing vessel on Monday, acting on a tip-off from maritime intelligence, anti-drug authorities, and the British National Crime Agency.
The Corymbe naval mission has been deployed by France in the Gulf of Guinea since 1990 to ensure security in an area where piracy is fairly common.
The French navy reported that 54 tonnes of drugs have been intercepted in the area since the beginning of the year.
France's Atlantic Maritime Prefecture stated that the seamless cooperation by national and international actors in the fight against narcotics has led to the remarkable seizure of 9.6 tonnes of cocaine.
The Gulf of Guinea, off the western coast of Africa, has seen multiple drug busts in recent months, as the region is a key transit point for narcotics, particularly cocaine shipped from South America to Europe.
The area was once the world's most dangerous for maritime piracy, surpassing that of Somalia, prompting several Western nations to send ships to combat piracy.
A record cocaine seizure of 10.7 tonnes was made by the French navy in March last year, marking a significant interception of the illegal drug trade off the coast of West Africa.
