The Senegalese navy seized 690kg of cocaine being transported to Europe in a high-speed boat and arrested the five Spaniards on board, the army said in a press release obtained by AFP on Sunday.
A deep-sea patrol boat intercepted the boat on Friday 220 km off the Senegalese coast.
The patrol boat had to give verbal warnings and warning shots to stop the boat, which had released its cargo before the intervention; 690 kg of cocaine were seized, according to the press release.
On November 28 and December 16, the Senegalese army reported the seizure of nearly three tons of cocaine at sea each.
In addition, more than 800 kg of cocaine were seized by the Senegalese Navy from a ship off the coast of Dakar in January.
According to the United Nations Office against Drug Abuse (UNODC), West and Central Africa, long considered an easy transit zone for Latin American-made drugs heading to Europe, has now also become a high-consumption region.