CUSTOMS officers anticipate making further ar-rests after one of Britain's biggest-ever seizures of cocaine was made off the South Coast.

Delighted officers say the dawn swoop off the Isle of Wight coast smashed a major drug-smuggling ring.

Yesterday at 5am, customs officials seized 500kg of cocaine, with a street value of more than £40 million, at secluded Orchard Bay, Ventnor, on the south-east tip of the Isle of Wight.

As reported in later editions of the Daily Echo yesterday, the drugs haul - the biggest ever in the UK - was seized when the customs investigation team swooped on the gang as they came ashore from an American-registered 37ft sloop, the Blue Hen. Five people were arrested on the beach and three arrests took place at locations elsewhere in the South-East. All eight were taken to Portsmouth for questioning. The sloop and an inflatable were seized.

Senior customs investigator Ranald MacDonald said: "The arrests at 5am followed a several months-long operation conducted by Customs and Excise and the national police crime squad.

"The vessel impounded was American-registered, and the arrests included two Americans, one Venezuelan, one Frenchman and four British people, of whom three were women.

"Further arrests are anticipated as our inquiries continue."

The assistant chief investigations officer for customs, Jim Fitzpatrick, said: "We believe that this operation has resulted in a major seizure of illegal drugs and will have a serious impact on the supply of cocaine in the UK."

It is the latest breakthrough for customs officers in the South. Earlier this month, officers uncovered 40kg of heroin, with a street value of £5 million, disguised as almonds in Southampton Docks.