The two Bulgarians apprehended on board a yacht, transporting 11 tons of hashish, have refused assistance from the Bulgarian authorities, Nova TV has reported.

The two men from Varna were detained yesterday off the coast of Sicily in a raid by the Spanish and Italian authorities. They are expected to serve their sentences in Italy. They are currently in the prison in Ragusa in Sicily.

This is not the first time the Italian authorities have intercepted Bulgarian nationals in an attempt to smuggle narcotics by yacht. More than 30 people were arrested around 10 years ago as part of a large-scale operation dubbed “Cocaine Kings”, more than half of them Bulgarian, and one a notorious name - Evelin Banev aka Brendo. They were smuggling drugs from Latin America to Spain, Italy and Bulgaria on board luxury yachts. This time the drug is hashish, probably grown in North Africa and smuggled from Morocco to Europe.