Pacific / French Polynesia

Drug bust in French Polynesia nabs 680kg of cocaine

09:37 am on 17 February 2016

Three South Americans have been arrested in French Polynesia after they were found on board a yacht carrying 680 kilograms of cocaine.

The Panama-flag vessel was intercepted by a French surveillance frigate, Prairial, near the Gambier archipelago on Saturday and the three men did not resist arrest.

The senior commander of the armed forces in French Polynesia, Rear Admiral Bernard-Antoine Morio de I'Isle, says the yacht was tracked using satellite surveillance in a coordinated operation.

Cocaine Photo: SUPPLIED

A prosecutor, José Thorel, says the territory lies in a geographically logical route between producing countries in America and consuming countries such as Australia and New Zealand.

The drugs will be destroyed and the three men will be tried in Papeete.