(Seychelles News Agency) - Eight foreigners presumed to be Iranian nationals have been arrested and their vessel seized by the Seychelles Coast Guard, the Anti-Narcotics Bureau (ANB) said in a joint press communique on Sunday.

ANB said that military officials and the Police on board Patrol Ship Etoile of the Seychelles Coast Guard boarded the vessel on Friday.

Following a preliminary search, six packets of suspected cannabis resin, a small packet of suspected heroin and $160,000 were seized.

The investigation is ongoing, said the Anti-Narcotics Bureau.

The Bureau said that the arrest of the foreigners was made through a collaboration between the National Information Sharing and Coordination Centre, the Seychelles Coast Guard, Seychelles People's Defence Forces and the Seychelles Police Force. 

Meanwhile, the French Embassy in Seychelles, an archipelago in the western Indian Ocean, has announced that 378 kg of pure heroin was seized by the frigate Floreal of the French national navy while on patrol in the Indian Ocean.

The Embassy has congratulated its sailors and said that "together with the Seychelles we are fighting drug trafficking and organised crime."