Cocaine worth £40 million found hidden in bananas at Thurrock port

The drugs had been brought to the UK from Colombia (Credit: NCA)

The National Crime Agency has seized more than half a tonne of cocaine at the London Gateway port in Thurrock.

Officers recovered the illegal narcotics from a consignment of bananas that had been shipped to the UK from Colombia. 

They had identified that it was going to be taken from the UK to the Netherlands and intercepted it on Tuesday, 26 July. 

Investigators estimate the drugs would have had a UK street level value of more than £40 million once cut and sold. 

The drugs were hidden under bananas (Credit: NCA)

“Taking out a consignment of this size will have been a huge blow to the criminal network involved in this shipment, preventing them from making millions of pounds that would have been invested in further criminality,” said NCA branch operations manager Adam Berry. 

“Class A drugs are pedalled by gangs involved in violence and exploitation in our communities.

“The NCA works hard with partners to stop drugs getting that far, and making seizures like this demonstrate how we can break that link between international drug cartels and street-level dealers.”

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