LONDON (AP) — British officials said Wednesday they have seized about 300 million pounds ($492 million) worth of cocaine in a record-setting drug bust on a pleasure boat.
The U.K. Border Agency and Serious Organized Crime Agency said 1.2 tons of cocaine were found hidden in a specially-designed compartment on a boat docked in southern England in June.
Officials said it is the largest-ever haul of Class A drugs ever found in the U.K. The U.K. classifies Class A drugs as those most likely to cause harm.
French authorities alerted British officials to the suspicious craft, Louise, while it was in the Caribbean in May. The boat was traveling to the Netherlands via Southampton, in southern England.
It took six days of searching the vessel to find the drugs because the hiding place was "ingenious," said Brodie Clark of the U.K. border agency.
