French Navy seizes 10.7 tons of cocaine off African coast

•  The operation was based on a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration.
• The cocaine had an estimated market value of nearly 695 million euros ($754 million).
• The Brest public prosecutor’s office ordered the destruction of the drugs but did not prosecute the crew.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the French navy had seized 10.7 tons of cocaine, valued at hundreds of millions of dollars, from a Brazilian fishing boat in the Gulf of Guinea. The operation, which occurred last Thursday off the West African coast, targeted a Brazilian-flagged boat measuring around twenty meters (66 feet).

France’s Atlantic maritime prefecture stated that French authorities requested the raid based on a tip-off from the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The prefecture added that the 10,693 kilograms of cocaine seized had an "estimated market value of nearly 695 million euros" ($754 million).

The Brest public prosecutor’s office, which holds jurisdiction over such cases, ordered the destruction of the drugs but opted not to prosecute the crew. As part of a longstanding security operation, the French navy stations one to two ships supported by a maritime patrol aircraft in the Gulf of Guinea.

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