£300m of cocaine stashed on board pleasure cruiser which sailed from Venezuela to Southampton

• UK's 'biggest-ever' find of Class A drugs weighing 1.2 tonnes
• Haul of 93 per cent pure cocaine represents a third of annual street deals when cut and distributed

It's the sort of luxurious yacht that would attract admiring glances wherever it went.
In the case of £1million pleasure cruiser Louise, however, the attention it received was from customs officials, who found the UK’s largest ever haul of cocaine stashed ‘ingeniously’ inside.
Smugglers had hidden 1.2 tonnes of the class-A drug in the bodywork of the vessel – then audaciously tried to ship the whole boat to Britain in a commercial cargo vessel.

High and dry: The Louise in Southampton Docks where she was searched by officers

The cocaine was exceptionally pure and officials said it could have been cut into eight tons of saleable drugs – worth £300million and a third of the entire UK annual supply.

On Tuesday, six suspected members of a crime gang, including a 60-year-old Dutch man and his three sons, were arrested in Holland.
Police also seized 100,000 euros (£87,300), two Harley-Davidson motorcycles, two guns, a silencer and ecstasy.

Authorities were first alerted to the 65ft Caribbean pleasure cruiser while it was in the British Virgin Islands in May.

Seized: The £1m Louise, a 65ft pleasure cruiser, was held at Southampton Docks where UKBA and Soca officers found cocaine worth an estimated £300m

Undercover officials looked on as it was loaded on to a container ship alongside 30 others for its journey across the Atlantic to Holland via Southampton.
Investigators believe the gang intended to unload the cocaine there before distributing the majority back to Britain, which is the biggest market for the drug in Europe.
But customs officers intercepted the boat at Southampton and specialist search teams spent six days secretly taking it apart.
Meanwhile, the boat’s owners threatened to sue for £750,000 unless it was released.
Border officials stalled for time claiming the yacht had been damaged in transit and was no longer seaworthy.

Record haul: The drugs, worth £300m, are pictured with the head of the Border Force for the UK Border Agency Brodie Clark

Hidden depths: The £1million yacht, Louise, is held by customs officials, who found the 1.2 ton cocaine haul stashed in a specially built section in the back

It transpired that the excuse was based on fact, as they discovered that by removing the huge haul of drugs the vessel had become dangerously unstable.
The cocaine had been concealed in a specially designed four cubic-metre compartment under the diving platform.
It was 90 per cent pure, while the average purity of cocaine seized at the British border is just 63 per cent.
Officials at the Serious Organised Crime Agency said the high purity meant it could have been cut into about seven million street deals.
Brodie Clark, of the UK Border Agency, said the way the drugs were hidden was ‘ingenious’, adding: ‘This has been an enormous seizure of cocaine. This is the largest we have on record. It is hugely significant.’
The operation is the latest blow to international drug cartels which has forced cocaine prices in the UK to record levels.
Officials said the value of a kilo of cocaine has risen from £30,000 in 2008 to more than £55,000 today.
News of the seizure came as Scotland Yard scored a separate blow against the British arm of another drug network.
Anthony Briggs and Rayner Jane Rothery, the final two members of a gang responsible for trafficking a ton of cocaine and laundering £10million, were jailed at Kingston Crown Court.

Since the drugs were found in June, the UKBA has helped Dutch police track members of the gang and six men were arrested during early-morning raids on Tuesday  - two 44-year-olds in Amsterdam, a 60-year-old in Meppel, two, aged 32 and 34, in Heusden, and a 27-year-old in Waalwijk.
Immigration Minister Damian Green said: 'This was a significant drugs seizure which was made possible by the co-operation of our international partners.
'UK Border Agency staff have shown vigilance, dedication and determination to uncover this shipment.
'Our efforts have helped bring an international crime gang to book and the message is clear: we will investigate and prosecute anyone who tries to smuggle banned substances through UK borders.
'By keeping the border secure we play a key role in stopping drugs entering the UK and in reducing the harm they do to our communities.

Find: Some of the 1.2 tonnes of 93 per cent pure cocaine found hidden inside the boat which was 'destroyed' during the search

'INGENIOUS' HIDING OF DRUGS

UK Border Agency officials called the hiding of a record drugs haul in a 44-tonne, £1 million luxury yacht 'ingenious'.
'The cocaine took up a space of about four cubic metres and was fitted neatly under the diving platform aft with access from the engine room.
'It required some really good blanking panels to hide them and it was ingenious,' a spokesman said.
The hiding place was so good it took specially trained officers six days to find the haul.
'The concealment was a professional job. It's a case of being methodical to find it,' said Doug McLellan, the head of maritime operations at the UKBA.
'Six days might sound like a long time but there is a lot of areas on a yacht of this size, so it's a painstaking process using trained officers, firstly looking through the obvious places and when those have been exhausted looking at the fabric of the boat.'
The yacht had been transported from the British Virgin Islands on board a specially designed Dutch-registered ship, Snoekgracht, owned by Seven Stars Yacht Transport along with 30 others. It was coming to Europe to be refitted.
The transport company was completely unaware of the drugs, the spokesman said.
Now the yacht, which was owned by those arrested, is at berth in Southampton docks and is Crown property.

'We aim to protect society from the violence and corruption that always accompanied the trade in illegal goods.'
The Dutch police were acting on intelligence provided by Soca's international network and the French Customs Investigation Service.
Brodie Clark said the international co-operation was a 'strong and powerful example of more to come', he said.
Asked about how the drugs were hidden, he added: 'It was ingenious, it was difficult to find. Skilful people spent a number of days looking for it.'
David Armond, deputy director of international operations for Soca, said the Louise had been 'of interest for some time'.
Operation Parsons showed the trust between international partners as the £1 million vessel was 'destroyed to find the load', he said.
He said the high purity of the cocaine meant it would make about eight tonnes of saleable drugs once cut.
'It's unusual for a load like that to get to the shores of the UK.
'It is undoubtedly the case that, had this vessel been allowed to get to its destination, a significant amount of this load would have been transported back to the UK.'
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.
Commissioner Gert Ras, of the Dutch National Crime Squad, said all six arrested men were Dutch nationals.
They included the 60-year-old owner of the boat and his three sons, aged 27, 32 and 34.
A further arrest of a seventh Dutch national is also expected, he said.

Ripped apart: Officers made the search after tracking the boat from the Caribbean which was bound for Holland