On the way to Europe: French Navy stops ship with more than 4.6 tons of cocaine

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South America hub: anti-drug police officers next to packets of cocaine in Ecuador in April

Photo: MARCOS PIN / AFP

A Brazilian ship with more than 4.6 tons of cocaine on board has been stopped in the Atlantic by the French Navy.

The charge was estimated to be worth 150 million euros, according to a statement from the European police agency Europol.

According to the report, the 21-meter-long ship was arrested on November 30 on its way to Europe in international waters off the coast of Sierra Leone.

Europol, the Maritime Drug Analysis and Operations Center and authorities from Brazil, France, Great Britain and the United States took part in the joint operation.

Investigations into the criminal gangs involved on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean are underway, the statement said.

The South American countries of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia are among the world's largest producers of cocaine, which is made from the coca plant.

Criminal organizations in Brazil control the drug market in the largest country in Latin America, as well as exports from Brazil to Europe.

Much of the cocaine is smuggled into the United States.

There have also been record confiscations in Germany and the Netherlands in recent years.

Europe has recently become a hub for the cocaine trade.

Drugs destined for Asia, the Middle East and Australia are also often shipped to Europe first because containers from there are less heavily controlled on the further journey.

aeh/dpa