Two Irish people were last night being quizzed by detectives who smashed a €130 million drugs trafficking operation in Britain.
The pair - understood to be long-term residents in England - were arrested during Scotland Yard's biggest ever simultaneous raid on 28 properties across London and the home counties.
More than 500 police officers took part in the operation which targeted one of the UK's largest cocaine and cannabis rings.
An estimated 220lb (100kg) of suspected cocaine, cash and several firearms were seized.
A total of 22 people were arrested on suspicion of drug trafficking and money laundering. They included suspects of British, Irish, Israeli, Iraqi, and Egyptian backgrounds.
The Department of Foreign Affairs said it was not involved with the incident.
The raids followed more than six months of surveillance and information gathering by Scotland Yard's elite specialist intelligence section. Det Supt Steve Richardson, who was responsible for the operation, said it was the final blow in the battle to dismantle the network.
At the luxury home of one of the suspected leaders of the multi-million euro cocaine empire, officers used a wheeled digger to smash a hole in a wall surrounding the fortified €4 million property.
Several vehicles, including two Mercedes, a Hummer and a four-wheel drive Porsche parked outside, were seized. The detective said more than 20 people had been arrested prior to yesterday, causing "chaos" within the gang.
Police had already seized almost €4 million in cash, 70kg (155lb) of cocaine with a street value of €670,000, and four guns, including one with a silencer.
Detectives said they believed a business had been used as a front for a "massive criminal enterprise" which involved laundering money from the proceeds of trafficking in cocaine and cannabis.
Police said the gang used a taxi cab business, located in a shabby corrugated iron and breezeblock building, as their headquarters.
Officers said up to €4.3 million passed through the innocuous taxi company every week as it also operated as a legitimate business.