Britain's crime-fighting agency said on Saturday it had seized more than two tonnes of cocaine worth £ 160million (€ 187million) for resale from a yacht intercepted off the south coast of England.
The United Kingdom has been affected in recent months by an explosion of overdoses.
Six men aged 24 to 49 - one Briton and five Nicaraguans - were arrested in the operation, carried out Thursday with the support of Australian Federal Police and British Border Police, the NCA said in a statement.
At the time of their arrest, they were approximately 130 kilometers from the coast, aboard a Jamaican-flagged luxury yacht coming from the Caribbean.
The drugs, concealed in waterproof black bags, were discovered during a search of the boat, once escorted to the United Kingdom.
The aftermath of the "Ironside" operation
According to the NCA, the Australian Federal Police provided, for this operation, information gathered as part of their "Ironside" investigation, which in June had resulted in a gigantic global crackdown against organized crime through the infiltration of an application (Anom) used to exchange coded messages between criminals.
Read alsoDrugs: the United Kingdom concentrates nearly one in three overdoses in Europe
"There is no doubt that this drug would have been resold in communities across the UK (...), fueling crime and distress," said Matt Horne, NCA deputy director, in the communicated.
"The seizure of this drug will hamper the plans of the organized criminal group and its ability to function," he added.
