Cocaine worth £40 million has been smuggled into a port on the River Thames, hidden in a box of bananas.
National Crime Agency (NCA) agents seized more than half a ton of the Class A drug from a boat bound for Colombia from Colombia. London Gateway on the Essex coast.
Huge slabs of cocaine were found among bananas in cardboard boxes.
The shipment was on its way to the Netherlands when detectives discovered it.
NCA branch manager Adam Berry described the seizure as a “huge blow” to the peddlers.
He said: ‘The removal of a shipment of this size will have been a huge blow to the criminal network involved in this shipment, preventing them from making millions of pounds invested in further crime.
“Class A drugs are used by gangs involved in violence and exploitation in our communities.
“The NCA is working hard with partners to prevent drugs from getting that far, and making repossessions like this shows how we can break that link between international drug cartels and street dealers.”
A big also discovered hemp nursery last week in a former Metropolitan Police building on the Isle of Dogs, London.
The station, on Manchester Road, was sold in February this year.
No arrests have yet been made at the cannabis farm, but an investigation has been launched.
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