£40million of cocaine has been found at a UK port – in a shipment of bananas.
300kg of the illicit drug was discovered following a search of the cargo vessel Star Stratos, which had come from Colombia, at Portsmouth, Hampshire, last night.
The seizure followed an operation involving the National Crime Agency, Border Force and the Irish Garda, and investigations are continuing both in the UK and Ireland in conjunction with An Garda Siochana
Tom Dowdall, deputy director of the National Crime Agency’s border policing command, said: “Working with our law enforcement partners in the UK and Ireland we have successfully prevented a huge quantity of what is likely to be very high purity cocaine reaching our streets.
“Our investigations into the organised crime groups likely to be responsible for thisshipment continues.
“This seizure once again demonstrates the international reach of the NCA and the impact we are having on the criminal networks involved in drug trafficking.”
