British police seize record cocaine haul worth more than half a billion dollars

The cocaine, estimated to be worth around £450 million ($570 million) on the UK illegal market, was found hidden in a container of bananas from South America that was transiting through Southampton and seized by authorities on February 8.

Packages of cocaine hidden in banana crates that British police recently seized at Southampton port - Photo: Telegraph

The UK's National Crime Agency (NCA) said it believed the shipment was headed to the port of Hamburg in Germany and it had liaised with international law enforcement agencies across Europe to identify the criminal networks involved.

“This record-breaking seizure will come as a huge blow to the international organised crime gangs involved. We have cost them a huge amount of their profits,” NCA Director Chris Farrimond said in a statement.

The NCA says criminal gangs are estimated to make around £4bn a year in the UK alone from the cocaine market, which is closely linked to serious violence in its supply chain, including gun and knife crime.

The previous largest seizure in the UK was 3.7 tonnes of cocaine, also found in Southampton, in 2022. Meanwhile, the UK's highest-value seizure of Class A drugs was when authorities found 3.2 tonnes of cocaine hidden on the tugboat MV Hamal in Scotland in 2015.

An NCA spokesperson explained that the higher value of the MV Hamal haul than the recent haul discovered in Southampton – amounting to around £512m – was due to the difference in the price of cocaine in the UK at the time compared to now.

According to the Telegraph, cocaine is now flooding the UK, with prices cheaper than before, as notorious Albanian mafia gangs have increased their import and trade of this "white powder" across the country.

Albanian immigrant crime groups are controlling much of the UK cocaine market and have expanded their operations into "logistics" by working with international mafias to move cocaine from the UK across Europe.

Quang Anh (according to Reuters, Telegraph)

Source: https://www.congluan.vn/canh-sat-anh-bat-giu-luong-cocain-ky-luc-tri-gia-hon-nua-ty-usd-post285557.html