Five tonnes of cocaine worth $540m seized at UK port

British border officials have seized around five tonnes of cocaine, with a street value of some £400 million ($540 million), at one of London’s main port terminals, the government said on Saturday.

The drugs were uncovered in a series of operations at London Gateway port in February and March, with the largest single haul, of almost 2,800 packets hidden in a banana shipment, weighing in at around three tonnes.

“The smugglers had gone to extreme lengths to avoid detection — trying to replicate the exact shape and weight of banana boxes to conceal the drugs inside, among fruit in a single shipping container,” the Home Office said in a statement.

Another £80 million worth of cocaine a tonne in weight was found last month in a shipping container carrying South American wine.

The Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, said almost 150 tonnes of illegal drugs were seized by the Border Force in the year ending in March.

AFP

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