Cops seize 1.2 tonnes of cocaine from luxury yacht

| 03/08/2011

(Yahoo News): Police have seized Britain's largest ever cocaine haul, worth up to £300 million, from a luxury yacht which had sailed from the Caribbean, officials said Wednesday. The 1.2-tonne stash was found hidden under the bathing deck of the pleasure cruiser docked in the port of Southampton in southeast England, Britain's Serious Organised Crime Agency (SOCA) and UK Border Agency (UKBA) said. Police believe the drugs were loaded onto the boat in Venezuela. In dawn raids Tuesday Dutch police, acting on intelligence from British and French authorities, arrested six men suspected to be involved in an international drugs ring responsible for the shipment.

Authorities were alerted to suspicions over the yacht, named Louise, while it was in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean in May. The boat was then intercepted in Southampton in June on its way to the Netherlands.

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  1. Anonymous says:

    In the last couple of years there have numerous sizeable drugs busts in Southampton involving passengers and crew from the flourishing cruise liner business the port enjoys.

    I'm not sure quite why this one has attracted so much attention.

    • Anonymous says:

      ummm….. 300 Million pounds worth is more than "sizeable", That's half a billion dollars.

    • Anonymous says:

      Lets think, 300 million pounds, 90 per cent proof. why would this not be special??  Dohhhh

  2. Shock and Awe says:

    Rather than a yacht  it's better to use a CIA-leased cargo plane bought from the Forestry Service.  Didn't they know that?

  3. Anonymous says:

    I have seen nothing so far that suggests the Yacht was registered in the Cayman Islands or had been here recently, however it appears that some of the DOO-DOOS posting here is already suggesting that somehow the Cayman Islands played a part in it. Get the facts straight and post accordingly.

  4. Anonymous says:

    …And remember WHO has BEEN advocating that "Mega Yachts will bring economic GAINS to Cayman". The question is… For WHOM?

    • Anonymous says:

      It was a damaged 65 foot cruiser being carried on a transatlantic freighter "for repairs".  Hardly a luxurious superyacht. 

  5. Anonymous says:

    Supply and Demand.  Until these self indulged and coked out Anglos get a grip on reality we will continue to suffer from the effects of being the pass through point for their insatiable appetite for drugs.

    • Whodatis says:

      Lol!

      You (we?) are about to experience an orgy of "thumbs downs" my friend!

      Interesting how the supplier is always painted as the wicked evil-doer in these scenarios isn't it?

      Meanwhile Kate Moss, Ricky Hatton, Kerry Katona, Amy Winehouse (RIP) and the millions of other coke users (including lawyers, judges, bankers, professionals, youths) are made out to be heroes, victims or simply eccentric.

      The UK is one of the most targeted jurisdictions for serious dope pushers thanks to the extremely high demand for the product … not to mention the ROI!

      (Have you heard the latest going price of a high quality "key"? Geez "Louise" indeed!)

      • Anonymous says:

        Thank you Whodatis for coming to my rescue.  I posted supply and demand.  I should have said Europeans and not Anglos but when it comes to hard drug use- SAME DIFFERENCE.

        It's amazing how they rally on this site to make themselves appear lilly white.  Lilly white as this shipment of coke.

        The good old double standard my friend.  Anyway at least your eyes are opened to it.  That's why your comments are always so hated and bombarded with thumbs down.  

        We Caymanians are the easiest to co-opt into killing off one another.  We always want to please the foreigner.  And we will protect him to the death just for a pat on the head.  So rather than examine the truth we will join in on the bandwagon and cry down or thumbs down truth.

        Anyway the point has been made.  Yeah we got our crack heads here.  Yeah we have our crime.  But its because we are choking on the backwash from the cup of criminal enterprise- while the South Americans get the cash and the Europeans/Americans get their high.  

    • Post X Pat says:

      Actually it was on it's way to Holland but was intercepted by UK police / Coastguard in UK jurisdiction. RTFS – Read The           Story.

    • Anonymous says:

      It was ulitmately going to Holland, not the UK. And like there isn't a local problem.

  6. Anonymous says:

    Is this the kind of yacht that we hope to attract by dredging the North Sound?

    • Anonymous says:

      Where in the Caribbean did it sail from?

      • Anonymous says:

        "Police believe the drugs were loaded onto the boat in Venezuela. In dawn raids Tuesday Dutch police, acting on intelligence from British and French authorities, arrested six men suspected to be involved in an international drugs ring responsible for the shipment." Please read the entire article before getting emotional.

        • Anonymous says:

          Mmm. I think YOU need to read the whole article.

          "Authorities were alerted to suspicions over the yacht, named Louise, while it was in the British Virgin Islands in the Caribbean in May".

           

           

      • Anonymous says:

        This article is full of inaccuracies.  It was not in the water – it was deliberately damaged in BVI and was loaded on the cargo freighter Snoekgracht.  The drugs originated from Venezuela and were bound for Holland.  UK Police boarded at Southhampton dock on May 24th – took them 6 days to find the stash in hidden compartments, along with guns, silencer, ecstasy and two Harley Davidsons (not illegal, but somehow worth mentioning by news outlets?).