Five tonnes of cocaine seized at U.K. port

Border force officials stand up as people thought to be migrants who made the crossing from France are brought into port after being picked up in the Channel by a British border force vessel in Dover, south east England, Thursday, July 22, 2021.

British border officials have seized around five tonnes of cocaine, with a street value of some £400 million (US$540 million), at one of London’s main port terminals, the government said on Saturday.

The drugs were uncovered in a series of operations at London Gateway port in February and March, with the largest single haul, of almost 2,800 packets hidden in a banana shipment, weighing in at around three tonnes.

“The smugglers had gone to extreme lengths to avoid detection -- trying to replicate the exact shape and weight of banana boxes to conceal the drugs inside, among fruit in a single shipping container,” the Home Office said in a statement.

Another £80 million worth of cocaine -- a tonne in weight -- was found last month in a shipping container carrying South American wine.

The Home Office -- Britain’s interior ministry -- said almost 150 tonnes of illegal drugs were seized by the Border Force in the year ending in March.