Pubdate: Tue, 2 Feb 1999 Source: Examiner, The (Ireland) Section: International News Copyright: Examiner Publications Ltd, 1999 Contact: http://www.examiner.ie/ TEN QUESTIONED AFTER UKP11.5M COCAINE SEIZURE TEN people have now been arrested after Britain's National Crime Squad's biggest seizure of cocaine, the squad announced yesterday. Five men and a woman were arrested on Sunday night at London's Heathrow Airport and during six raids in south east England, while four others were arrested yesterday. The 163kg haul of cocaine, with a street value of UKP11.5m, was found on Sunday at a house in Ostend, Belgium, and was thought to have been on the way to Britain, a spokesman said. A Belgian man was arrested at the house in Ostend and is being questioned. The ten British people are being held at police stations in the South East. The raids were carried out at Wendover, Buckinghamshire; Runwell, Wickford and Clay Hill, Essex; and Bushey and Watford, Hertfordshire. Two further arrests were made yesterday morning during a continuing police search at the Runwell address. A quantity of hydroponic cannabis plants and a quantity of cocaine were seized by police during the search. Later two men were arrested at Newcastle Airport. One had just flown in from Europe. Police believe the two-year Operation Pierrot, organised by the squad and its predecessor the South East Regional Crime Squad, has broken up one of the major drug gangs in the UK. - --- MAP posted-by: Patrick Henry