New Caledonia Busts a "Mother Ship" Used for Cigarette Smuggling

French customs officers have seized their largest ever contraband tobacco cargo in New Caledonia, equal to a years’ worth of regional consumption in the French overseas territory. 

Last Wednesday, the Noumea Customs Brigade boarded and searched the Tanzanian-flagged bulker Kokoo, which had arrived in Noumea after loitering suspiciously for an extended period off the coast of Australia. The agents discovered five containers in one of the bulker’s holds, filled with 76 tonnes of contraband cig…