French port authority officials were yesterday questioning two Greek seamen after discovering 3.5 tons of cocaine on a Greek-owned vessel off Guinea, West Africa.

Authorities raided the Panama-flagged Junior some 140 nautical miles off the port of Conakry, arresting all nine crew members, including the two Greeks, one of whom was the ship’s captain.

One of the two Greeks had been arrested in January 1995 aboard the Archangel tanker which had been carrying three tons of cocaine.

The Greek owner of the Junior – a 37-year-old businessman – was arrested in Athens early yesterday. Police said he owns two offshore firms based on the Marshall Islands in the western Pacific. Documents he showed police allegedly show the vessel had been rented out over the past month.