A yacht with 1.4 tonnes of cocaine has been intercepted by the French navy off Tonga.
French Navy vessel Le Vendémiaire Photo: AFP
New Caledonia's newspaper said the operation was launched a week ago when a navy vessel was sent out in a joint mission with police and customs officials.
The report of Les Nouvelles Caledoniennes gave no details of where the yacht was caught but it said it happened several days ago and four people were detained.
The navy vessel, Le Vendémiaire, returned to its Noumea base this morning, with dozens of masked military men guarding the offloading of the drugs which have been moved to an undisclosed destination for destruction.
The four detained people are to be presented to a prosecutor shortly.