Italian agents seized more than 10 tonnes of cannabis resin in a dramatic operation on the high seas, arresting nine and confiscating a Dutch fishing boat, police said Thursday.

Italy’s Guardia di Finanza finance police swooped on the boat 130 nautical miles southeast of Sicily after tracking the vessel from the air for two days, a statement said.

They arrested the captain of the boat, called Quest, and eight crew members, whose nationality was not revealed.

The raid was part of an international anti-drug trafficking initiative called “Libeccio International” — Libeccio being a southwesterly wind that sweeps Italy and Corsica — in which Italy collaborates with a number of other European nations.