Brussels

German officials discovered 16 tonnes in five shipping containers that had arrived in the port of Hamburg from Paraguay earlier this month.

Police in the Netherlands were notified and a further 7.2 tonnes of cocaine was seized at the Belgian port of Antwerp.

German officials said the cocaine had a street value of billions of euros.

A 28-year-old man suspected of involvement in the trafficking of the drugs has been arrested in the Netherlands, Dutch police said on Wednesday.

Vanuatu, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu, Nauru, Palau and the Marshall Islands delivered a joint statement at the ACP's Council of Ministers in Brussels.

It condemned Indonesian human rights violations in Papua, including alleged crimes against humanity and called for an eventual resolution that includes support of the right of West Papuan political self-determination.

The Belgian government has confirmed casualties but has given no numbers. The cause of the explosions is unknown.

Another explosion has now been reported at the Maelbeek metro station close to the EU institutions. The whole metro system has been closed.

At least 22 raids were carried out in Brussels and Charleroi, Belgian federal prosecutor Eric Van Der Sypt told a news conference.

No weapons or explosives were found during the searches.

Two shots were fired during an operation in Molenbeek, he said.

Brussels will remain on the highest level of terror alert following the attacks in Paris, Belgium's Prime Minister Charles Michel said on Sunday.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel said the rest of the country will remain on a threat level of three on a four tier scale.

Brussels has been on lockdown all weekend, as police search for suspected Paris attacker Salah Abdeslam.

Schools, universities and the metro in the Belgian capital will remain closed on Monday.

It provided an opportunity for the Ministers to take stock of progress made in implementing the Strategic Action Plan for Fisheries and Aquaculture, which was adopted in Nadi, Fiji in 2012, and to agree on the way forward to ensure the sustainability of aquatic resources with a view to wealth creation and development in African, Caribbean and Pacific (ACP) countries.

Enele Spoaga of Tuvalu arrived in Brussels on Monday to call on EU leaders for support ahead of the next UN climate change summit in Paris in December.

The group of islands, home to just 10,000 people, is under direct threat by rising sea levels due to climate change as it is no more than 4m above sea level at its highest level.

He called on Europe to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to keep global warming down to 1.5C, which scientists say is a safer limit than the current goal of 2C, the Brussels Times reports.

He said: “We need to save Tuvalu to save the world.