The first “narco sub” in European waters has been captured by police as drug gangs attempted to smuggle three tonnes of cocaine into Europe, much of which would have ended up on British streets.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) worked with Spanish police and customs to intercept the 65-foot long semi-submersible submarine which was loaded with cocaine worth hundreds of millions of pounds on the UK market.

The submarines have been used by South American drugs cartels to smuggle cocaine into the US but this is the first of its kind to be detected in European waters.

It was caught before it could offload its 152 bales of cocaine to another vessel on Saturday and escorted into the port of Aldán on the northwest coast of Spain. Two Ecuadorian nationals have been arrested and a search for the third crew member is ongoing.

Read more: yahoo