Isle of Wight: Arrest over washed-up cocaine find

Packages of drugs were also found at St Aldhelm's Point and Durdle Door in Dorset

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.

Search teams were sent to St Catherine’s Point on the Isle of Wight after packages were found washed up

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.

Ron Rapp came across a suspicious set of packages floating in the sea on Sunday

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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