Italy’s Financial Guard (Guardia di Finanza, GdF) seized more than 2.6 tonnes of cocaine and detained four people during a large-scale international operation in the Atlantic Ocean involving the authorities of Spain and Portugal, Euronews reports.

The wholesale value of the shipment is estimated at about €78 million.

“After delivery to its destination and subsequent cutting for retail sale, this narcotic substance could have generated total turnover of around €500 million,” the GdF said in a press release about the seizure.

The investigation, coordinated by the Brescia District Anti-Mafia Prosecutor’s Office, culminated in a dramatic episode: the Central Service for the Investigation of Organized Crime (SCICO) and officers from the Brescia Air and Naval Operational Command intercepted an ultra-fast inflatable go-fast boat in the ocean. On board were four suspected drug traffickers — two Spanish nationals, one Gibraltar national, and one Albanian national.