In a statement, the National Maritime Authority stated that "several alerts" were received during the afternoon yesterday (23 December) from people informing them that bales were on the sand of several beaches along the Algarve coast.

Following the alert, officers from the Maritime Police from Portimão and Albufeira arrived at the scene, and seized, throughout the afternoon and evening, 19 bails of drugs, totalling around 670 kilos of hashish.

Maritime Police are maintaining surveillance on the coastline, especially in these municipalities, having detected and apprehended during the night two more bails of hashish in the Albufeira area.

“The 19 bales of hashish seized by the Maritime Police will be handed over to the Judiciary Police”, the statement continued.