French Polynesia: 1,878 kilos of drugs discovered on a sailboat in the Marquesas Islands, a “historic seizure”

The sailboat was then taken to Papeete, where the Anti-Narcotics Office (Ofast) continued its investigations and dismantled it, leading to the discovery of an additional 714.1 kg of cocaine and 49.8 kg of ice. A total of 1,646.8 kg of cocaine and 231.4 kg of methamphetamine, as well as weapons (11 Glocks and 24 magazines), were discovered, the ministry said.

"Congratulations to Customs, OFAST, and the gendarmes for this exceptional operation. The State will never ease up on the trafficking that plagues our regions," Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau wrote on X on Saturday, referring to a "historic seizure." In a press release, the Papeete prosecutor's office welcomed "the largest seizure of narcotics made to date in Polynesia," with an estimated market value of €329 million.

The sailboat was intercepted while stopping at Nuku Hiva, one of the most populated islands in the Marquesas Islands, one of the five archipelagos of French Polynesia. The three crew members, of Dutch and German nationality, were charged and placed in pretrial detention on July 18, according to the prosecutor's office. The drugs had been loaded in Mexico, bound for Tonga, the same source said.

"We are going to ask for the strengthening of controls in the maritime zone of the Marquesas and more broadly in Polynesia, knowing that this is the traffickers' route," declared the mayor of Nuku Hiva, Benoît Kautai, at the time of the seizure in mid-July, believing that this drug is not consumed in the Marquesas, unlike cannabis, which is very widespread.