A Braintree man has been arrested after a yacht carrying £5.5 million of cannabis was seized off the Spanish coast.

Philip Cook, 48, whose exact address has not been released, was one of three British nationals arrested when Spanish customs officers stopped a German-registered yacht at sea and seized 1,500 kilos of hashish resin.

The other people arrested were Alexandre Binks, 24, of Sheffield, and Judy Anderson, 22, of Belfast.

A spokesman for the British Embassy in Madrid said today: "We can confirm that three Britons were arrested on December 30 and that they were arrested by Spanish police on the way from Morocco to Spain.

"The consular staff have visited them and they all seem in good health."

The three appeared in court on January 1 when a judge ordered their committal to Puerto De Santa Maria II prison, near Cadiz.

They are expected to be transferred to a prison in Malaga next week.

The spokesman said the yacht had been stopped in Spanish waters off the coast of Morocco and that the prisoners had requested that their next of kin were not informed of the arrests.

A spokesman for HM Customs and Excise said: "I would have thought it unlikely that UK Customs would necessarily have been involved but even if we were, it's one of those situations where we wouldn't deny or confirm because these are sensitive matters."

Published Thursday, January 9, 2003

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