Paris, 21 October 2025 (dpa/MIA) – The French Navy stopped a speedboat carrying 2.4 metric tons of cocaine off the Portuguese Atlantic island of Madeira, using force to bring it to a halt, prosecutors in Brest reported on Tuesday.

They put the value of the drugs at more than €128 million ($149 million) and said the operation had been conducted in coordination with the United States and the United Kingdom.

Le Parisien newspaper reported that a navy frigate had opened fire to knock out the speedboat's engines after the occupants ignored a call to stop.

The civil and military authorities in Portugal and Spain were involved in halting the speedboat. The frigate was assisted by a French Navy helicopter and a customs plane.

The find is being seen as part of a rising trend in the import to Europe from South America of cocaine in large quantities through Spain, Portugal and France. French media increasingly refer to a "white tsunami."

MIA file photo