The drug has a black market value of more than 350 million euros, according to customs officials on Thursday. It was hidden in a container from Ecuador, which according to the shipping documents was supposed to be loaded with bananas. The container had already been unloaded in the port of Hamburg on December 24 and has been at a container terminal ever since. A similar find was made in January in Baden-Württemberg.
“With this outstanding seizure of cocaine, customs are once again underscoring their important role in the fight against organized crime,” said René Matschke, head of Hamburg’s customs investigation office. The head of the main customs office in Hamburg, Christian Schaade, emphasized: “This success is based on a sophisticated risk analysis by customs.”
Due to the long standing time, the container was targeted by customs. At the end of January, an X-ray check was ordered in the container inspection facility in Waltershof. Suspicious structures became visible behind two pallets of bananas. Inspectors eventually found 2,630 kilograms of cocaine. The container shipment of bananas was destined for a company in another European country. The further investigations of the customs investigation on behalf of the public prosecutor’s office are ongoing. The find was one of the largest in recent years.
Just last week, Hamburg customs investigators discovered around 140 kilograms of cocaine in a shipping container with broccoli. The drug was found in a shipment from South America during a routine inspection. Criminals could have doubled this amount and thus taken in around 17 million euros.
Last year, officers from the Hamburg Customs Investigation Office seized more than 18 tons of cocaine. In February 2021 alone, the investigators found 16 tons in containers from Paraguay. It was the largest amount of cocaine ever seized in Europe, it said. On Friday, customs in Bremen want to report on another large find of cocaine that officials made in Bremerhaven in January.
Meanwhile, cocaine worth 20 million euros has been discovered in the state of Baden-Württemberg. As the police announced on Thursday, officials discovered the 336 kilograms of drugs at the end of January in a banana ripening plant in the Rems-Murr district. In order not to hinder the investigation, the State Criminal Police Office has only now announced the find. It is the largest amount of cocaine ever confiscated in Baden-Württemberg.
The drug was neatly packaged in one-kilogram packages between the bananas in the crates, it said. According to the police, these came from Central America. According to the State Criminal Police Office, there were indications of the drugs in the warehouse before the search.
Source: Nachrichten
