Spain nets hashish worth £17.9m from Mediterranean ship

Spanish authorities said they have seized hashish with a street value of around 20 million euros (£17.9 million) from a merchant ship that was allegedly smuggling the drug from North Africa to the eastern Mediterranean.

A Spanish government statement said aircraft spotted several semi-rigid boats, which are often used by North African drug-runners, around the Moldovan-flagged ship ELG.

Agents boarded it and found more than 10 metric tons of hashish in the hold.

The ship's six Ukrainian crew were arrested in the operation about 100 miles (160 kilometres) south east of Spain, the statement said.

Authorities began tracking the ship six months ago.

Officials said large amounts of hashish travel from an area near the Strait of Gibraltar to countries in the eastern Mediterranean.