Italian police have scooped up two tons of cocaine, found wrapped in protective plastic and floating in the sea off eastern Sicily.

The “catch” had an estimated street value of about 400 million euros (£354 million), authorities said on Monday.

The packages of cocaine were strung together with netting, police said in a statement.

There was just enough plastic wrapping to stop the drugs getting wet without weighing them down and potentially causing them to sink.

Investigators speculated that a cargo ship had left the haul in the sea for another vessel to pick up and take to land.

Police aircraft flew over the area as a precaution in case any packages had become separated from the netting.

In all, officers scooped up more than 1,600 packets of cocaine held in 70 bobbing bundles, the statement said.