Two Royal Marine commandos were arrested with two ex-marines and two former soldiers by Customs officers after a drugs operation, it was
disclosed last night.
Three tonnes of cannabis resin were seized at the end of a year-long operation when Customs boarded the 279-tonne Maltese-registered ship, Simon de Danser, more than 100 miles off the Portuguese coast.
The crew of eight, including six British nationals, was arrested and are due to arrive in Plymouth on Friday night.
The six Britons are understood to include a serving Royal Marine commando, two former marines and two ex-soldiers. A second serving marine was arrested at Poole, Dorset, which is the elite corps'
specialist training base.
He was still being questioned by Plymouth police, along with seven other people arrested in dawn raids in Devon, Cleveland, North Yorkshire, Durham, Merseyside and London.
Also arrested after raids on addresses in Calpe, south east Spain, was British-born former Middlesbrough car dealer Brian Charrington. Britain is pressing for his rapid extradition to face allegations that he was involved in a conspiracy to import cannabis into the UK.
Military sources emphasised that none of the arrested military and ex-military personnel belonged to special forces.
Customs officers suspect that the drugs originated in North Africa and those smuggling them into the UK had been active for some time. The Simon de Danser's progress through various Mediterranean ports had been charted for three to four weeks.
Police said five people would appear before magistrates in Plymouth today. The three others have been released.
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