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UK Border Force Seizes £400m Cocaine Hidden in Banana Shipment at London Gateway
British border officials have seized approximately five tonnes of cocaine, with an estimated street value of £400 million ($540 million), at one of London’s major port terminals, the government announced on Saturday.
The drugs were discovered during a series of operations at London Gateway port in February and March. The largest single haul nearly 2,800 packets weighing around three tonnes was found hidden inside a shipment of bananas.
According to a statement from the Home Office, the smugglers went to great lengths to avoid detection, attempting to replicate the exact shape and weight of banana boxes to conceal the drugs among the fruit in a single shipping container.
In a separate operation last month, border officials seized another one tonne of cocaine, worth approximately £80 million, inside a shipping container carrying wine from South America.
The Home Office, Britain’s interior ministry, added that the Border Force seized nearly 150 tonnes of illegal drugs in the year ending March.