The French Navy has seized more than six metric tons of cocaine from a cargo ship in the Gulf of Guinea.
The merchant vessel was coming from South America when it was intercepted by the French Navy vessel Dixmude on Sunday, March 21, 2021.
The cargo vessel was identified as the St. Kitts and Nevis-registered MV Najlan, a 4,400 dwt vessel built in 1989. AIS data indicate that the vessel departed Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on March 5.
The operation was carried out on the basis of information provided by the French anti-drug agency OFAST, the Dutch police, EUROPOL and Brazilian authorities. The French Navy reports that the vessel had been under close surveillance since it left South America.
The seizure is the largest in the region since 2019, when nearly ten tons of cocaine were seized on a Panama-flagged vessel with eleven Russian crew members in Cape Verde.
