A POOLE man was among those arrested when police smashed an international drugs ring attempting to smuggle more than a tonne of cocaine into mainland Europe.

Detectives seized the narcotics, thought to be worth at least £80 million, near Madrid and arrested a total of 16 people in England and Spain.

According to reports the British-led organisation is alleged to have joined forces with Colombian drug smugglers, who transported the cocaine into Spain.

The arrests took place after the Colombians reportedly handed over the haul of class A drugs to the Brits at a shopping centre in Leganes, south west of the Spanish capital.

Britain's National Crime Agency and the South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU), comprising police officers drawn from the Thames Valley, Sussex, Surrey and Hampshire forces, were involved in the operation.

Thirteen arrests were made in Spain and three in the UK, including a 49-year-old man from Poole who has been arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply class A drugs and conspiracy to import class A drugs.

The other Brits arrested were a 54-year-old man from Ashford, Middlesex, and a 48-year-old woman from Windsor, Berkshire.

All three, arrested last month, were interviewed by SEROCU detectives and bailed.

SEROCU has also confirmed another Poole man, aged 25, was interviewed under caution and subsequently released under investigation.

Detective Inspector Graham Curtis, from SEROCU, said: " This operation clearly demonstrates to criminals trying to operate internationally that they will be met with a strong and well-orchestrated response.

“We work alongside our colleagues in other countries and use a number of tactics to target such criminals, and will continue to work together to apprehend them.

“There is a direct link between illicit drugs and many other crimes, from organised cartels seeking to make money, to people stealing to fund their addiction, and we are committed to tackling the issue at the very top."

According to reports in the British national press, officers discovered that two criminal gangs, one of Colombian origin and the other British, had joined together to share logistics. Investigators also discovered they were using a sophisticated electro-mechanical system to hide the cocaine in vehicles used to transport the narcotics.

Firearms, nearly £90,000 in cash and dozens of mobile phones were also reportedly seized by police.

A spokesman for Spain's National Police said: "National Police officers, in a joint operation with police and judicial authorities in the US, Colombia and Britain, have smashed two international drugs trafficking organisations.

"Sixteen arrests have been made, nine in Madrid, two in Barcelona, two in Malaga and three in the UK.

"More than a tonne of cocaine that was going to be distributed in Spain and Britain has been seized."

In August, last year, three Bournemouth men were arrested for their part in an attempt to smuggle cocaine worth more than £41million into the UK on a private jet from Colombia.

The men, Martin Neil, 49 and of Bournemouth Road, Poole, Italian national Alessandro Iembo, 28 and of Richmond Chambers, Bournemouth, and Spaniard Victor Franco-Lorenzo, 40 and of Suffolk Road, Bournemouth, were each convicted of one count of fraudulent evasion of a prohibition in relation to a class A controlled drug, between October 30 and January 30.

They were each sentenced to 24 years in prison.