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by Mick the Ram
A haul of Class A drugs with an estimated street value of £450m, has been seized at the port of Southampton, hidden in a shipment of bananas coming in from South America.
The 5.7-tonne consignment of cocaine represents the largest ever interception in the UK and was uncovered on 8 February by border force officials.
This latest find smashes the previous record of 3.7 tonnes of cocaine, also discovered at the same port on England’s south coast in 2022.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) reported that the drugs were heading to Hamburg in Germany and then beyond, and said their inquiries were ongoing to try and identify the criminal gangs involved.
The cargo of cocaine was concealed in blocks mixed with bananas and the NCA confirmed that the domestic market for the drug is worth a staggering £4bn a year in the UK alone, to those behind the smuggling.
Substantial hit for the crime gangs
This capture is a massive success for the port authorities and will be a significant hit to the international organized crime cartels behind it; denying substantial profits which will probably lead to some unfortunate situations for one or two shady individuals.
There has been an exponential rise in associated violence in the past few years as the industry becomes more and more lucrative, and the gangs become increasingly ruthless.
Working closely with partners
Authorities in the UK are working ever closer with international partners to trace not just the criminal networks involved, but attempting to identify the people at the top of the chain behind this enormous cache.
NCA director Chris Farrimond, confirmed this fact in a statement released following the mammoth find, he said: “While the destination for the consignment was continental Europe in this case, I have no doubt that a significant proportion would have ended up back here in the UK, being peddled by our own criminal gangs.”
He went on to say that this was a great result and their enquiries were ongoing with partners all across Europe, with a view to identifying the criminal networks involved. “Here at home we continue to work closely with our UK partners, such as Border Force, and together we are determined to do all we can to protect the UK public.”
South American production on the rise
Andy Mason, who operates as the NCA’s drug threat lead, explained how although this seizure would be a significant blow to those running the crime groups, and would very likely seriously disrupt them, it sadly will not stop them.
He said that whilst there had been high levels of success in grabbing consignments all over Europe in the past year, unfortunately the UK were part of a cocaine market in which manufacture continues to increase in South America.
“In Colombia, since 2020, the production of coca leaf has increased by over 40%, so it’s a challenging environment.” He added that outstanding work had been undertaken recently to “tighten security” at the UK ports, which had led to “several arrests of port workers who are engaged in assisting cocaine traffickers”.
Undoubtedly, these “insiders” are vital to the gangs, so removing them from the “supply chain” really makes a dent in the operations.
Top bananas
Record breaking quantities of cocaine have been seized in Europe in recent years, with ports in the Netherlands, Spain and Belgium accounting for more than 70% of the seizures, and it does seem that the banana is a favourite for drug concealment for smugglers.
It was just last August when Rotterdam customs agents in the Netherlands came across 17,600 pounds of cocaine inside crate loads of the fruit. Three months earlier a police dog was able to sniff out 3 tonnes of the same drug, hidden within a case of bananas in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro.
The vast majority have made their way over from Colombia, which produces around 60% of all the cocaine found in the world.
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