Eight tonnes of cocaine have been discovered in a container at the Port of Rotterdam this month.
The haul, which has an estimated street value of over £500m, was discovered on a Maersk ship and had travelled to the Dutch port from Ecuador via Panama.
The discovery is more than double the previous Dutch Customs record of 3.8 tonnes in 2021, and brings their total cocaine seized this year to 29.7 tonnes.
The drugs were packed in 8,064 one kilo packages and were hidden within 12 pallets of bananas. After electronically scanning the container, the authorities became suspicious and used drug detection dogs to help inspect it.
While the haul was a major boost for the war on drugs, it was not the largest worldwide seizure of cocaine. That was recorded back in 2019 at the Port of Philadelphia, when 20 tonnes was discovered aboard an MSC vessel.
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