Colombian cocaine worth £40 million discovered inside batch of bananas on River Thames port
Cocaine worth £40 million has been discovered smuggled in a batch of bananas at a port on the River Thames. National Crime Agency officers seized more than half a tonne of the Class A drug on a boat travelling from Colombia at London Gateway on the Essex coast.
Detectives intercepted the shipment, which had been en route to the Netherlands, on Tuesday (July 26). Hundreds of huge cocaine slabs were found wedged alongside bananas in cardboard boxes.
The haul would have had a UK street value of more than £40 million once cut and sold, according to investigators. NCA branch operations manager Adam Berry described the discovery as a “huge blow” to the peddlers.
READ MORE: London drug dealer found hiding in child’s playhouse had £4.5m worth of cocaine
(Image: National Crime Agency / PA)
He said: “Taking out a consignment of this size will have been a huge blow to the criminal network involved in this shipment, preventing them from making millions of pounds that would have been invested in further criminality. Class A drugs are pedalled by gangs involved in violence and exploitation in our communities.
“The National Crime Agency works hard with partners to stop drugs getting that far, and making seizures like this demonstrate how we can break that link between international drug cartels and street-level dealers.”
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