Italian police seize 10 tonnes of hashish in sea raid

ROME - 7 June 2018: Italian police have seized more than 10 tonnes of hashish stashed aboard an ocean-going fishing boat and arrested the nine crew members, police said on Thursday.

Finance police boarded the Dutch-flagged "Quest" some 130 miles (210 km) south of Sicily after tracking the vessel for more than 40 hours as it made its way through the Mediterranean.

Italian media said the boat had set sail from Malta and had picked up the drugs after a rendez-vous with dealers off the coast of Morocco and Algeria. La Repubblica newspaper said criminals in Libya had overseen the operation.

The street value of the hashish was put at between 15-20 million euros ($18 million-$24 million) ($1 = 0.8457 euros) (Reporting by Crispian Balmer Editing by Gareth Jones)