Yacht used to transport cocaine sold with new owner finding hidden stash

Over 800kg of cocaine was seized from the yacht earlier this year. Photo / File

A catamaran that was boarded and seized by French Polynesian officials in January has been sold to a new buyer with cocaine on-board.

Sold off to a new buyer this month, the man decided to clean the yacht and during the process, he found hidden stashes of cocaine.

Finding around 1kg that had escaped previous police searches, he handed over the drugs to police.

La Depeche de Tahiti claims that officials found 809kg of cocaine on-board the yacht Mojito earlier this year.

At the time the yacht's skipper was arrested and deported to France.

Prosecutor Herve Leroy told La Depeche De Tahiti that the drugs were not destined for the local market.

"Polynesia is now identified as a transit route for drug traffickers who are obviously destined for New Zealand and Australia," he said.