Police stopped another shipment of drugs destined to our streets.

It was a deadly cat and mouse drama being played out on the high seas as cunning international drug dealers with a heavy load of cocaine on a sailboat tried to outrun Canadian cops.

As Quebec RCMP moved in to intercept the sailboat off the coast of Nova Scotia on September 2, the drug smugglers set the boat on fire in a bid to destroy the evidence and burn the 552 kilograms of cocaine on board, which is worth an estimated $70 million on the streets of Toronto.

The RCMP said they managed to extinguish the blaze and seized the cocaine.

Police said they were searching for a small sailboat suspected of smuggling the cocaine to Canada from the Caribbean island of Antigua. It can take as long as a month by boat to make the 3,550 mile trip between countries.

“Once a sailboat meeting the description was spotted, our officers approached to intercept,” according to a RCMP marine patrol. “As they approached, smoke was observed and a fire rapidly spread throughout the sailboat.”

Officers assigned to control the fire “noticed packages floating in the cabin, with packaging, shape and size similar to cocaine packages seized in the past.”

A 38-year-old man from Kelowna, B.C., and a 32-year-old man from Antigua, were arrested and charged with conspiracy to import narcotics and other offences.

Police said the Antiguan man, identified as Karin Marley Simons, escaped from officers while receiving care in hospital and is still at large.

It is believed Simons may be trying to return to his native Antigua.