The French navy seizes nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine off the West African coast

The French navy has seized nearly 10 tonnes of cocaine, worth $ 610 million (540 million pounds sterling) off the coast of West Africa, the French authorities said.

Two French naval ships operating within the framework of Operation Corymbe intercepted the enormous cocaine transport of an unchanged fishing vessel on Monday, acting on a renunciation of maritime intelligence, the anti-drug authorities and the British National Crime Agency.

The Corymbe’s naval mission has been deployed by France in the Gulf of Guinea since 1990 to ensure safety in an area where hacking is fairly common.

“9.6 tonnes of cocaine were intercepted by two French ships,” said the French navy.

He added that 54 tonnes of drugs have been intercepted in the region since the start of the year.

The Atlantic Maritime Prefecture in France said that “transparent cooperation by national and international actors” in the fight against narcotics had led to the “remarkable crisis” of 9.6 tonnes of cocaine.

The Gulf of Guinea, off the west coast of Africa, has experienced several busts of drugs in recent months, the region being a key transit point in world drug trafficking, in particular South America cocaine sent to Europe.

The region was once considered the most dangerous area in the world for maritime hacking, exceeding waters off Somalia. Several Western countries have sent ships to help fight piracy in the region.

A record crisis of cocaine of 10.7 tonnes was carried out by the French navy in March of last year, in the largest interception of illegal trade off the coast of West Africa.