Mauritania arrests foreigners after drugs haul

NOUAKCHOTT, Aug 15 (Reuters) Authorities in Mauritania said today they had arrested three foreigners and two locals in connection with the seizure of 860 kg of cocaine, the West African country's biggest drugs bust.

''Five people have been arrested in connection with this affair: two Mauritanians, one Western Saharan, one Mexican and one Spaniard,'' police commissioner Ely Ould Sneiba, director of the country's anti-drugs office, told Reuters.

Mauritanian authorities said on Monday they had made the latest find while investigating those behind the smuggling of more than 600 kg of cocaine seized after a small plane made an emergency landing at the northern port of Nouadhibou in May.

West Africa has become a major hub for Colombian cocaine being trafficked to markets in Europe, where street prices are significantly higher than in the United States.

Police in Mauritania's southern neighbour Senegal this month incinerated nearly 2.5 tonnes of cocaine seized in June after a deserted sailing yacht loaded with the drug drifted into a popular coastal resort.

That seizure, which led to the arrests of suspects from countries including Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and France, was thought to be the biggest in the region.

Reuters RSA VP0015