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Drug smuggling in Europe: record discovery of 1.5 tons of cocaine!
Dutch customs discovered 1,575 tons of cocaine in a shipment of fruit. Further finds in Germany and Norway.
Drug smuggling in Europe: record discovery of 1.5 tons of cocaine!
Dutch customs authorities have seized an impressive 1,575 kilograms of cocaine at the port of Vlissingen, hidden in a load of fruit that was to be transported from Colombia to Germany. According to the public prosecutor's office, the value of this drug delivery is around 118 million euros. The discovery was made as part of a regular inspection and is not the first of its kind: just a few weeks ago, over 1,000 kilograms of cocaine were uncovered in Vlissingen, and in October customs investigators found 600 kilograms in a shipment of bananas. This increase in such discoveries suggests that criminal gangs are increasingly targeting smaller ports such as Vlissingen to smuggle their drugs due to tightened controls in larger ports such as Antwerp and Rotterdam oe24 reports.
Significant drug discovery in Brandenburg
There was also a remarkable drug discovery in Germany: 1.2 tons of cocaine were discovered in a fruit wholesaler in Groß Kreutz, Brandenburg, on Tuesday. An employee of the wholesaler reported the secret discovery, which led to an immediate investigation. These drugs were hidden in banana crates and originally came from Ecuador before entering Europe via a Dutch port. During the course of the investigation, 500 kilograms of cocaine were also discovered in a warehouse in Saxony and more than 800 kilograms of cocaine in Oslo, Norway, when the Norwegian police seized the drugs in fruit crates. This represents the largest cocaine discovery in Norwegian history, Oslo police announced. In total, the finds add up to 2.5 tons, a success of international cooperation between police and customs, confirmed Brandenberg's police chief Oliver Stepien Berlin newspaper.
No arrests have been made in the ongoing investigation and law enforcement has not yet identified any suspects. The repeated discoveries in this fruit wholesale trade raise questions about the efficiency and security of fruit supply chains in international trade, while drug traffickers' smuggling methods become increasingly sophisticated.