The UK has had its largest ever seizure of Class A drugs, as authorities confiscated around 5.7 tonnes of cocaine at Southampton Port. The National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force worked together to make the haul on 8 February. The drugs were discovered within a consignment of bananas from South America. They had been intended for delivery to Hamburg and had a street value of £450m ($586m).
The amount of cocaine seized would equate to enough lines for two doses for every man, woman and child in the UK, according to Metro. Estimates suggest the total number of lines would reach 114 million. The police are now attempting to trace the parties responsible for the shipment.
“The work of the NCA was crucial to making it happen. While the destination for the consignment was continental Europe in this case, I have no doubt that a significant proportion would have ended up back here in the UK, being peddled by UK criminal gangs,” said NCA Director Chris Farrimond.
This seizure is thought to be the largest of Class A drugs discovered in the UK. In 2022, 3.7 tonnes of cocaine were seized in Southampton. An earlier shipment was discovered in Scotland in 2015. At the time, it had a value of £512m due to the higher street value of cocaine in Scotland
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