A drugs haul unearthed by Afghan commandoes, working with their British counterparts in the Special Boat Service, was so large that RAF Harrier jump jets were called in to bomb it, it emerged yesterday.
The crack teams discovered 236.8 tons of cannabis buried in vast trenches in the desert. The drugs had a minimum street value of £225 million, and weighed more than 30 double-decker buses, officials said.

IN NUMBERS

5 million

Ecstasy tablets seized in Melbourne in 2005 were claimed as the largest haul of street-ready tablets in the world, worth £120 million.

9 tons

of cannabis resin was seized by Vietnamese police last month in the largest drug haul in its history. Found in 400 cartons covered by jeans, en route from Pakistan to China, it was estimated to have a street value of £45 million.

38,000lb

of cocaine was seized by US Coast Guard officers who boarded a 330ft ship off the Pacific coast of Panama in 2007. It was the largest single sea-based seizure of cocaine by a US agency, with an estimated street value of £250 million.

£161 billion

the retail value of the illegal drugs trade worldwide, according to the 2005 United Nations World Drug Report. The illicit drug market in the United Kingdom has been valued at £8 billion.