LONDON, Sept. 25 (Xinhua) -- British police have seized more than 70 kg of cocaine and 100,000 pounds (131,804 U.S. dollars) in cash stashed in shoeboxes in a raid in east London.
The drugs haul, with a street value of 3.5 million pounds, was found when officers from the Met's Violent Crime Taskforce swooped on an address in Romford on Monday night. Detectives also recovered a loaded handgun.
Three men aged 24, 27 and 53, and two women aged 25 and 53, were arrested on suspicion of conspiracy to supply cocaine, possession of criminal property and possession of a firearm and ammunition.
All the five people were questioned at east London police stations on Tuesday.
Detective Superintendent Sean Yates said: "This was a result of fast-time intelligence about the supply of drugs to east London gangs. A seizure on this scale will disrupt the flow of class-A drugs."
"A potentially lethal firearm has been taken off the streets," Yates said.
The small handgun is thought to be a 4mm Flobert, a weapon popular with London gangs.
In recent months politicians and senior police officers have warned drugs are fuelling a surge in gang-related violence in London. A recent British Home Office report cited a higher supply of cocaine from Colombia as a reason for a rise in violence.
