This is the moment police divers retrieve cocaine worth nearly EUR 10 million from the hull of a container ship off the coast of the Canary Islands.

The haul- which weighed in at 200 kilogrammes – was found stashed up ventilation flaps for the ship’s refrigeration system, according to Spanish media.

Divers, Civil Guard police and customs officers removed 182 packages of the drugs on 6th August from the ship in Las Palmas harbour, Gran Canaria.

The bundles of cocaine had been lashed together and then weighed down to stop them floating to the surface.

Police identified the drugs boat after tracking the movements of freight ships through Brazilian ports heading for Gran Canaria.

The Liberian-flagged vessel was identified and found in the island’s main port, reported local media.

Other footage shows drug officers performing an instant test on the substance and finding it to be cocaine.

The Civil Guard said in a statement obtained by Newsflash: “The investigation began within the framework of the analysis that is carried out on the vessels that docked or anchored on the Brazilian coast.

“After studying several ships that had carried out these tasks in certain Brazilian ports and had sailed to Puerto de la Luz in Gran Canaria, the agents detected a Liberian-flagged ship that matched the information analysed.”

The Civil Guard continued: “A total of 182 packages were extracted from inside the bags, which were transferred to the port for counting and passage.

“In total, the packages weighed 198.35 kilogrammes [437.2 lbs] of cocaine.”

Civil Guard officials revealed that this is the second seizure on the same scale since the beginning of the year.

They added: “In January, two packages with 30 bricks of hidden cocaine were seized, totalling 42.45 kilogrammes [93.5 lbs], following the same modus operandi.

“The proceedings have been made available to the Investigating Courts of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria.”