More than 40 held as cocaine ring is smashed

Scores of people were arrested as British and Spanish police smashed an international cocaine ring, it was confirmed today.

Spanish Customs officers, working with the UK’s Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca), launched the raids as part of Operation Candlelight last week.

An estimated £10m (€11.4m) worth of cocaine was found aboard a UK-bound yacht which was stopped 500 miles off the coast of Galicia, Spain.

The British crew of the 29ft vessel, The Dolphin Dance, were named as Mark Mills, 40, and Joseph Bowness, 37, both from Liverpool.

Spanish police have said 550lb of cocaine was found hidden in the hull as the ship crossed the Atlantic Ocean from the Dutch Antilles in the Caribbean.

Scores of other people were detained as homes and businesses on the Costa del Sol were also targeted in the operation.

Police seized €300,000 as well as a handgun, mobile phones and computer equipment.

The total number of arrests in both countries is understood to be in excess of 40.