The Royal Navy has helped seize a haul of cocaine, with an estimated value of £60m on Britain's streets, from a ship off the coast of West Africa.
Nearly two tonnes of the drug was found stashed below deck on the 100-feet long Panamanian-registered freighter.
Acting on British intelligence, the Royal Navy frigate HMS Argyll was diverted from exercises to take Spanish customs officials to stop Ster II.
The six West African crew members put up no resistance, the Royal Navy said.
The Spanish customs team were flown out to join Argyll in Navy helicopters before boarding the target freighter in the Atlantic, 1,600 miles south of the Canary Islands.
Among its crew were five Senegalese and one person from Guinea Bissau.
British officers had worked with the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) and law enforcement authorities from Spain, France and the US to trace the cocaine.
On Friday, the Argyll and the captured freighter were heading for Las Palmas in the Canary Islands where they are expected to arrive next weekend.
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