TEN QUESTIONED AFTER UKP11.5M COCAINE SEIZURE

TEN people have now been arrested after Britain's National Crime
Squad's biggest seizure of cocaine, the squad announced yesterday.

Five men and a woman were arrested on Sunday night at London's
Heathrow Airport and during six raids in south east England, while
four others were arrested yesterday.

The 163kg haul of cocaine, with a street value of UKP11.5m, was found
on Sunday at a house in Ostend, Belgium, and was thought to have been
on the way to Britain, a spokesman said.

A Belgian man was arrested at the house in Ostend and is being
questioned.

The ten British people are being held at police stations in the South
East. The raids were carried out at Wendover, Buckinghamshire;
Runwell, Wickford and Clay Hill, Essex; and Bushey and Watford,
Hertfordshire.

Two further arrests were made yesterday morning during a continuing
police search at the Runwell address. A quantity of hydroponic
cannabis plants and a quantity of cocaine were seized by police during
the search.

Later two men were arrested at Newcastle Airport. One had just flown
in from Europe.

Police believe the two-year Operation Pierrot, organised by the squad
and its predecessor the South East Regional Crime Squad, has broken up
one of the major drug gangs in the UK.