Seized, ton of cocaine worth £100m
A TON of cocaine worth £100million was seized from a shipment of fruit in an operation involving Scottish police.
The drugs were found in the early hours of Tuesday hidden in pallets that had arrived at Dover on a vessel from South America.
Searches have been carried out in Glasgow and Essex as the investigation continues, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said. The seizure is part of a joint operation between Police Scotland and the NCA.
Police arrested a 40-year-old man in Brentwood, Essex, and a 64-year-old man in central Glasgow on suspicion of importing class-A drugs. Both were questioned before being released under investigation.
The probe is linked to Operation Venetic, which has so far seen hundreds of arrests across the UK following the infiltration of an encrypted communications platform.
NCA director of investigations Nikki Holland said: ‘This is a huge seizure of class-A drugs, made as a result of some excellent joint working between the NCA and Police Scotland under the Organised Crime Partnership (Scotland), and our Border Force colleagues.
‘This operation has prevented a large amount of cocaine from making it on to our streets. We estimate that once adulterated and sold, it could have had a street value of up to £100million.
‘In making this seizure, we have taken away a valuable commodity that would have been sold to fund further serious and organised criminality.’
Police Scotland assistant chief constable Angela McLaren said: ‘This seizure is undoubtedly a massive setback for serious and organised criminals.
‘This operation and our other recent successes underline our unwavering commitment to working with partners, including the NCA and Border Force, to disrupt this sort of criminality.
‘Working together, we will relentlessly pursue those who seek to bring misery to our communities, whether they are in Scotland or elsewhere in the world.’