French and Venezuelan authorities have seized 1.8 tons of cocaine off the coast of French Guiana in one of the largest hauls by French officials in a decade, the interior ministry announced Saturday.
The drugs, with an estimated value of 1.5 billion euros (1.3 billion dollars), were found Friday on a Venezuelan-registered fishing vessel after it was intercepted by a French navy frigate, the statement said.
French customs authorities and police cooperated in the search of the ship, which was stopped in international waters. British and US agents provided assistance to French authorities in making the drug haul.
French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin on Saturday congratulated all those involved in the operation, which he said was evidence of "the success of international cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking."
He also praised the "efficiency of interministerial cooperation" in the effort, in a statement released Saturday.
The Socialist prime minister said France has bolstered its maritime presence in the Caribbean region in a bid to step up the fight against cross-border drug-running, a struggle he said was of "great importance".
The seizure was the second-largest by French authorities in the last 10 years. Last June, 2.2 tons of cocaine were found on two boats off the coast of the Caribbean island of Martinique.
Both French Guiana and Martinique are overseas French departments -- PARIS (AFP)
