Police Seize Tonnes of Cocaine Off Portugal

Police authorities have seized more than 2.6 tonnes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of €500 million ($570 million), in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Portugal, Italy's border and customs police said on Monday.

The drug was found aboard an "ultra-fast ocean-going rigid inflatable boat", which smugglers typically use to recover illicit cargoes dropped at sea by large ships arriving from South America, the Guardia di Finanza police said in a statement.

Four people aboard the vessel were arrested - two Spaniards, a Gibraltar resident and an Albanian man living in Italy.

The operation was conducted in cooperation with Spanish and Portuguese authorities, with Italian prosecutors in the northern city of Brescia coordinating investigations.

"The wholesale value of the cocaine is estimated at approximately €78 million. Once delivered to their destination and diluted for retail distribution, the narcotics could have generated total revenues of around €500 million", the statement said.

(Reuters - Reporting by Alvise Armellini, editing by Giulia Segreti)