Britons held in French drug swoop

Two Britons have been arrested in Monaco after French police found £22.6m worth of cocaine, bound for the UK market, in a riviera warehouse.

They were among 15 people seized by police in raids on several properties in the south of France and on the island of Corsica.

The 323kg of drugs was found in a warehouse in the city of Nice.

The warehouse was rented by a Briton who was already under suspicion of drug supply, according to police.

The French finance ministry said the man was also known in the UK for alleged involvement in the drug trade.

Police say the drugs had been smuggled into Europe in a consignment of porcelain crockery and were bound for the UK market.

The two Britons, who were arrested on Tuesday, have not been identified.

Investigations in Marseille and Nice led police to the warehouse.

Colombian cocaine

BBC correspondent Alan Little said police believed they had cracked a major network smuggling cocaine from Colombia.

Among the 13 other people detained was a former member of the so-called French Connection drugs ring, police said.

Also held were alleged cigarette smugglers and several residents of Corsica.

The French Connection ring trafficked heroin through the port of Marseille to the US in the 1960s and was broken up by authorities acting on both sides of the Atlantic.

The story of how the ring was smashed later became the subject of an Oscar-winning Hollywood film starring Gene Hackman.