A boat which docked in the UK last week was carrying cannabis with a street value of more than £40m, enough to make a joint for every single person in the country, the Serious Organised Crime Agency (Soca) said today.

Customs and law enforcement officers seized the Abbira, a 30-metre ocean-going tug, when it arrived at Southampton a week ago. It was moved to Portsmouth where a search recovered 14.5 tonnes of cannabis resin in 419 blocks.

"With a wholesale price of £875 per kg, this cannabis was worth around £2.5m to the importer, and offered a potential profit of around £1m through onward wholesale distribution," a spokesman said.

At a street value of £10 per eighth-of-an-ounce measure, the cannabis would be worth a total of about £41m, he added.

"This quantity of cannabis would make approximately 72.5m joints – at 200mg of cannabis resin per joint - more than one joint for every man woman and child in the UK," the spokesman said.

The search was carried out by a specialist UK Border's Agency team as part of an ongoing Soca operation.

Soca was working with customs officers, Hampshire police and the newly-established Maritime Analysis and Operations Centre – Narcotics (MAOC-N), based in Lisbon, Portugal.

MAOC-N was opened last year by the UK and six other European nations to try and combat the flow of drugs across the Atlantic.

Three Israeli men, two Ukrainian men and four Serbian men were arrested and charged in connection with the raid, and another four British men were arrested in Leicestershire, three of whom were charged and one released on bail.