Tunisia's coastguard on Monday announced the seizure of 31 kilos of pure cocaine with a value of more than $6 million (six million euros) off its Mediterranean coast facing Italy.

The bust came after "suspicious movements" were sighted on a boat off Cape Bon, a peninsula on the strait of Sicily, Mohamed Walid Ben Ali, who heads the coastguard in La Goulette near Tunis, told AFP.

Two men fled with the boat after hurling "a large red sack" into the sea that was recovered by coastguards and found to contain 30 blocks of pure cocaine.

It was the "first time" that Tunisian authorities have netted such a large haul of the drug, said Lieutenant Colonel Ben Ali, who added that Italian authorities had been alerted about the two fugitives.

source: AFP