Colombian cocaine haul worth £40m discovered in banana shipment at London port
More than half a tonne of cocaine with a street value in excess of £40 million has been seized at London Gateway port on the Essex coast.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) said its officers discovered the Class A drugs hidden in a consignment of bananas that had been shipped by boat to the UK from Colombia.
Investigators intercepted the shipment, which was destined for the Netherlands, last week.
The NCA estimates the haul would have had a UK street level value of more than £40 million once cut and sold.
NCA branch operations manager Adam Berry 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 NCA 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.”