French Polynesia cocaine shipped from Venezuela

6:30 pm on 10 October 2017

Reports from French Polynesia say the yacht caught with more than 400 kilogrammes of cocaine in the Marquesas islands had come from Venezuela.

Cocaine

Cocaine Photo: SUPPLIED

Media reports said the catamaran was sailed by three men - one from Poland and two from the Netherlands.

The catamaran, which was registered in the Seychelles, had been under police surveillance for days on suspicion of transporting the banned drug.

At the weekend, police from Tahiti flew to the Marquesas where they detained the men and seized the drugs.

According to La Depeche de Tahiti, the three suspects were being held for questioning and had not been charged.

In January, customs officials found 800 kilograms of cocaine on a yacht seized in Tahiti only days after finding 600 kilograms of the drug on another yacht off the Marquesas.