Cocaïne

After more than two tonnes of cocaine washed ashore, locals in villages along the Normandy coast have described an influx of unfamiliar people in luxury cars and 4x4s who have been scouring the sand.

Large numbers of packages containing what the authorities describe as 'very pure cocaine' along with other drugs have been found on beaches along a lengthy strip of France's Atlantic coast over recent weeks, with those found so far estimated to have a potential street value of about 60 million euros.

The cocaine, found in delivery of fruit juice concentrate from Costa Rica at plant in southern France has market value of €50 million.

A week after a drugs squad officer was accused of stealing 52 kilos of cocaine, the facts are proving stranger than fiction.

The drugs squad officer has been formerly placed under investigation on suspicion of stealing more than 50 kgs of seized drug stash.

The unnamed officer, 34, was picked up while on holiday in the southern city of Perpignan by officers probing theft of €3m drugs haul.

The 50 kg of cocaine, seized in police raids in northern Paris in early July, had been stored in a special room secured with an armoured door.

Police seized the 1.3 tonnes of pure cocaine on board an Air France flight from Venezuela, with the drugs found packed inside 30 suitcases.

Alain Afflelou, who owns Europe's largest optician franchise chain, was said to be "stunned" that his jet was used to carry 700 kilos of cocaine.