Portuguese drug authorities, with help from the country's Navy and coast guard, were able to intercept a 79-foot luxury yacht carrying tons of cocaine traveling in the Atlantic Ocean. Authorities were able to seize more than five tons of cocaine hidden inside the yacht - a haul believed to be worth an estimated $232 million on the open market.
Drug authorities said the bust was one of Europe's largest busts in recent years and Portugal's largest in over 15 years. With the help of the Portuguese Navy and Air Force, drug authorities were able to track down the luxury yacht in the open ocean. After boarding the yacht, police were able to find 183 bales of cocaine hidden inside the vessel.
Authorities said they arrested all three men that were on board the yacht. Police said the men were likely members of an international drug syndicate that transported illegal drugs between Latin America and Europe. The syndicate has been known to ferry drugs across the ocean and then enter into Europe through the Iberian Peninsula.
Portuguese media said that two of the suspects that were arrested were Spanish nationals, while the other individual was a Peruvian national. One of the suspects was reportedly already wanted by authorities since March.
Months before the bust, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency and the UK's National Crime Agency have been conducting investigations and surveillance into the syndicate's movements and activities. After months of investigations and working with drug authorities from Portugal and Spain, an operation called "White Tide" was finally put into action, eventually leading to the drug bust.
Portugal's Judiciary Police Chief Luis Neves said that the drug bust should be a clear message to other traffickers. He said that they are expecting more drug trafficking along the route but he warned syndicate members that police will be waiting to arrest them.
"Those who have to fall will fall because this amount of drugs is an immense fortune and a huge blow for criminal groups," Neves said.
Spain's narcotics police chief Antonio Martinez Duarte said the bust will let drug syndicates from Latin America and Europe know that authorities will not make it easy for them to smuggle drugs into the region.
