Isle of Wight: Arrest over washed-up cocaine find

A man has been arrested after packages of cocaine were found opened and moved after they washed up on a beach.

Packages and holdalls filled with the drug have been found on England's south coast since 2 October.

Two packages were found on the beach in Chale, Isle of Wight on Friday and reported to police on Sunday.

A 57-year-old man from Ryde was arrested on suspicion of being concerned in the supply of drugs. He has been bailed until 15 January.

Police said a 78-year-old man arrested after another package washed up on the island between Atherfield Point and Chine on 7 October had been released with no further action.

The man, from Ventnor, was arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply a Class A drug.

Hundreds of kilos of the illegal drug were first found in the sea off St Aldhelm's Point and Durdle Door in Dorset on 2 October by a fisherman.

A second batch was found on a beach by litter-pickers on the west coast of the Isle of Wight on 7 October.

Sea angler Ron Rapp also found floating packages of cocaine off the Isle of Wight, near The Needles, on 8 October.

He called the coastguard and waited by the floating drugs until officers arrived in a police boat to remove them from the sea.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) is leading the investigation and said it believed the drugs were transported from South America on a merchant ship.

The NCA has urged anybody who finds a holdall or similar package on the coastline of Dorset, Hampshire or the island to call 999.

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