On Friday, British authorities said that they had broken the record for the largest single seizure of hard drugs in the nation by discovering over 12,500 pounds of cocaine concealed in a shipment of bananas.
What Happened?
On February 8, at the port of Southampton on the south coast of England, the National Crime Agency said that 5.7 tons of cocaine had been discovered inside a container of bananas. The government calculated that the pharmaceuticals in the collection were worth $568 million on the black market.
The biggest drug seizures in the United Kingdom prior to the mammoth arrest were 3.2 tons recovered on a tug boat and a 3.7-ton haul of cocaine found in Southampton two years ago.
The cocaine sachets that were discovered this month were hidden among a shipment of bananas that had been shipped from South America. According to authorities, the drugs were intended for Hamburg, Germany, “for onward delivery.”
The cocaine industry in Britain, which “has seen an exponential rise in associated violence in the past few years,” is estimated by the NCA to bring in more than $5 billion annually for criminal gangs.
Collaborating With Foreign Partners
Authorities stated that in order to uncover the criminal networks responsible for the unprecedented seizure, they were collaborating with foreign partners.
(Photo: U.S. Department of State)
Throughout Europe, drugs have been found hidden in banana shipments. 17,600 pounds of cocaine that were concealed within banana crates at the port of Rotterdam were discovered by Dutch customs officers in August of last year. In the Italian port of Gioia Tauro, three months prior, a police dog detected three tons of cocaine hidden in a case of bananas.
According to statistics examined by the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction, record volumes of cocaine have been intercepted in Europe in recent years, with ports in the Netherlands, Spain, and Belgium accounting for more than 70% of the seizures.
