Holland seizes 90,000 vodka bottles headed for N. Korea

THE HAGUE: Dutch Customs agents at the port of Rotterdam seized 90,000 bottles of vodka believed to be headed for sanctions-hit North Korea, officials said on Tuesday.

The discovery of the Russian booze on a Chinese cargo ship was announced on the eve of a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and United States President Donald Trump in Hanoi.

Dutch newspaper AD said the vodka was believed to be for Kim and his army chiefs.

The Customs agency declined to confirm that Kim was the intended recipient.

“It’s an incredible story — it’s like something you read in a thriller,” Customs agency spokesman Roul Velleman said.

The bottles of luxury spirit were found last Friday in 3,000 boxes in a container loaded in Hamburg on to the Nebula, a ship owned by China’s Cosco.

“Sources indicated to us that a container was destined for North Korea. That was reason enough for us to act,” Velleman said.

Searching the container proved difficult, however, because it was hidden beneath an aircraft fuselage which had to be lifted by crane.

“We obey the foreign ministry and acted in conformity with the international sanctions against North Korea,” Velleman said.

The bottles were still on the harbourside in Rotterdam, he added. “Either the bottles will be destroyed or they will be sold — it hasn’t been decided yet.”

The Dutch Foreign Ministry confirmed the seizure of the vodka.