LONDON: British police on Friday said that have recovered 5.7 tonnes of cocaine worth US $ 568 Million in country biggest-ever seizure of illicit drugs.
The National Crime Agency said 5,700 kg of cocaine were discovered in a container at the port of Southampton in England on February 8.
The agency in a statement said the drug was found hidden in a cargo of bananas which had been transported from South America.
Officers believe the drugs were being smuggled to Hamburg in Germany for onward delivery.
NCA director Chris Farrimond added that this record-breaking capture will be a major blow to the international organised crime cartels involved in the drug smuggling.
The last largest seizure of drugs in the UK was 3.7 tonnes of cocaine discovered in Southampton in 2022.
The NCA believed that criminal gangs make around US $4 billion a year from Britain’s illegal cocaine market.
