#NavalService - A catamaran has been found with a "significant quantity of cocaine" when seized in the English Channel in an operation involving Irish Defence Forces.

As RTÉ News reported, five men have been arrested on suspicion of drug smuggling.

The UK’s National Crime Agency said that a Border Force boat intercepted the vessel off the southwest coast of Cornwall and escorted it to Newlyn Harbour.

An Irish Naval vessel (Afloat confirms as the L.E. William Butler Yeats) and an Air Corps maritime patrol aircraft took part in the inter-agency operation.

They conducted a surveillance operation off the south coast of Ireland prior to the detention of the vessel.

Further details of the drugs seizure operation can be read by clicking here. 

The find comes just days after Revenue seized cocaine and MDMA worth some €3 million at Dublin Port, as TheJournal.ie reports.