On February 12, 2021, customs officers checked five containers in the port of Hamburg. These were classified as suspicious on the basis of an extensive risk analysis carried out by several European customs authorities. In the container testing system, clear irregularities were found in three containers loaded with filler in tin cans. Apparently, after a layer of real goods directly behind the container door, numerous tin cans were also filled with other goods.

The containers were unloaded and the customs investigators pulled eight cocaine packages weighing more than 9 kilograms from each of the 20 kilogram canisters. More than 16,000 kilograms of cocaine were found in over 1,700 doses.

This is the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Europe, and this amount is also one of the largest individual seizures worldwide.

In the days that followed, numerous operational measures were planned and carried out together with the Dutch investigative authorities. The investigations led to a further seizure of over 7,200 kilograms of cocaine in the port of Antwerp (Belgium) on February 21, 2021.

This morning a 28-year-old man from Vlaardingen was arrested in the Netherlands who is suspected of being responsible for importing more than 23 tonnes of cocaine.

Source & full text: German Customs