Arrests in Mauritania drug bust

Poor West African states are seen as a new hub for the drugs trade

The authorities in Mauritania say they have arrested five people in connection with the West African country's biggest drug haul ever.

The arrests include a Spanish and a Mexican citizen, they said.

Police explained that they found more than 800kg of cocaine while investigating another narcotics seizure earlier in the year.

Experts say that West Africa has become a major hub in the trafficking of cocaine from Latin America to Europe.

They say the street prices for drugs in Europe are higher than in the United States.

The Spanish and Mexican were arrested in Mauritania's capital, Nouakchott.

The other case which police said they were investigating involved the smuggling of 600kg of cocaine.

There have also been large cocaine seizures recently in Senegal, Ghana and Sierra Leone.

According to the 2006 United Nations World Drug Report, the average wholesale price of cocaine in western Europe, weighted by population, was $45,700 for one kilogram. It was $20,500 in the United States.