This is the moment customs police seize more than 2.5 tonnes of cocaine from a sailing yacht bringing the drug to Europe from the Caribbean.

The yacht was located and boarded at sea in heavy storms as it tried to sail to the Spanish Canary Islands.

Its cocaine cargo was so massive some of it could even be seen by Spanish customs officials as they intercepted the yacht, the authorities said.

Video footage of the bust shows four suspects – one of them a woman – being led off the yacht in front of lines of heavily armed police in Las Palmas, Gran Canaria.

Three of the suspects are Colombian, and the fourth is a French national.

Police are seen numbering the huge haul of cocaine and testing it to confirm the content of the packages.

Newsflash obtained a statement from the Spanish National police on Tuesday, 24th January, saying: “A sailing boat was seized with 2,500 kilogrammes [5,511 lbs] of cocaine from the Caribbean and bound for the Canary Islands.

“The Customs Surveillance Special Operations Ship ‘Fulmar’ had to navigate through storms, with strong winds and waves, in search of the vessel.”

They added: “The four crew members of the sailing boat have been arrested, three of them of Colombian nationality and one French national […].”

The Spanish authorities said that the four suspects had been detained in prison pending the outcome of the investigation.

The statement said: “Agents of the National Police, in a joint operation with Customs Surveillance of the Tax Agency, intercepted a sailing boat on 5th December from the Caribbean that was transporting nearly 2,500 kilos of cocaine bound for the Canary Islands, and has proceeded to arrest its four crew members, who are in pretrial detention awaiting trial.”

The authorities said that they had boarded the vessel at sea after navigating through heavy storms to find it.

Police say the operation was a result of coordinated action and information sharing between the Spanish National police and the customs office.