Mystery of the £50m cocaine haul found by walker on beach

POLICE are investigating after £50 million worth of cocaine was washed up on two East Anglian beaches. Hundreds of kilograms of the drug were discovered on Thursday afternoon by a member of the public in a number of holdalls on Hopton Beach, near Great Yarmouth.

Experts from the National Crime Agency were called in to investigate and hours later a further number of small packages were discovered at a location near Caister. The total amount of suspected cocaine seized is estimated to be about 793lb (360kg), which if cut and sold on the streets could have had a value of upwards of £50 million.

It is not yet clear how the drug came to be in the water, but one theory is that it was thrown overboard by smugglers and was washed away by high waves before it could be collected.

The holdalls were attached to a number of empty plastic containers, which were intended to act as floats.

Investigators are also probing whether the smugglers were forced to dump the drugs overboard after being approached by Customs officials who patrol the waters around the coast.

Experts will now try to ascertain where the cocaine began its journey and whether it was brought into British waters from the Continent or from farther afield.

A source at the NCA said the loss of such a large consignment of narcotics would be a huge blow to the smugglers’ operation and that it would be working to identify those responsible. Matthew Rivers, from the NCA’s border investigation team, said: “We are now working with Border Force, the Coastguard Agency and Norfolk Police to try to establish how the bags ended up where they did.

“However, it is extremely unlikely that this was their intended destination. This is obviously a substantial seizure of class A drugs and its loss will represent a major blow to the organised criminals involved.”

Superintendent Dave Buckley, from Norfolk Constabulary, added: “We are assisting the National Crime Agency with their searches and whilst we believe we have recovered all the packages, should any member of the public find one they are urged to contact Norfolk Constabulary immediately on 101. We will have extra officers in the area to monitor the situation.”

Experts have warned that the East Anglian coast will become a target for drug smugglers as security on the Channel ports increases. With its many rivers, remote creeks and tidal estuaries, the 250-mile coastline of Essex, Suffolk and Norfolk offers the ideal opportunity for illegal cargoes to be landed by smugglers.

Dutch police have found enough raw materials to make more than one billion ecstasy pills in a truck close to the Belgian border. The truck reportedly contained 100 bottles of hydrogen gas, 15 tons of caustic soda and 3,000 litres of other chemicals. The haul was estimated to be worth €100,000 (£85,000) and would have been worth substantially more if in pill form.