£300m cocaine haul seized on yacht in Britain's biggest bust

A luxury yacht has been impounded at Southampton docks after more than a ton of cocaine was found hidden "ingeniously" within its bowels, in the largest Class-A drugs bust ever made in Britain.

A specialist team of anti-smuggling officers swooped after a covert operation, codenamed Parsons, led them to the £1 million cruiser as it headed towards Europe from the British Virgin Islands.

The cargo was so well hidden that officers had to "destroy the boat to find the load", they said. It was eventually unearthed beneath the diving platformafter six days.

David Armond, deputy director of international operations for the Serious Organised Crime Agency, said the 1.2-ton cargo, with a purity of around 90 per cent, could have been sold on the streets for around £300 million. The haul would have converted to seven million street deals or a third of the UK's entire annual cocaine market, he said. The yacht, named "Louise", was among 30 other boats on the Dutch-registered transport vessel Snoekgracht, heading for Europe for a refit.

Six men were arrested in the sting, which involved officers from the UK Border Agency, the Serious Organised Crime Agency and the Dutch national Crime Squad.

Jim Jarvie, deputy director for the UKBA's crime directorate, said the drugs were destined for Holland, from where they would have been distributed across Europe.

Mr Armond added: "Had this vessel been allowed to get to its destination, a significant amount of this load would have been transported back to the UK."

All six arrested men were Dutch nationals, including the boat's owner and his three sons.