Cocaine shipment weighing “as much as a rhino” seized in sixth biggest drug bust in UK history

One of the largest drug busts in UK history has unfolded in Essex, with almost £100 million worth of cocaine being seized, roughly the “weight of an adult white rhino” ITV News reports.

The 2.4 tonne drug shipment was discovered last week at a port in Stanford-le-Hope, Essex, after being investigated by the UK Border Force before its arrival, who called it "one of the largest seizures of the last decade".

The drug haul survived the journey by boat from South America and through the Panama canal, only to be seized in the UK after being found beneath 37 shipping containers in an operation that took two days.

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Border Force operators found the drugs stash after carrying out an "intelligence-led operation", with the Home Office declaring it the “sixth largest cocaine seizure” in UK history.

In comparison, the Border Force last year seized a total of £3 billion worth of illegal drugs – or 119 tonnes – indicating the scale of this recent bust. The latest drug haul alone is thought to have fetched £98 million at street value, according to the BBC.

Charlie Eastaugh, the director of maritime at Border Force, told The Times: “We have clamped down on importation of drugs but clearly, it’s still a massive issue in the UK. The production globally of cocaine is soaring. The consumption in the UK is also staggeringly high.”

The recent haul was equivalent to more than 10% of all Class A drugs seized in the last five years by the Maritime Border Force team, according to The Times.

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Last week, 170kg of ketamine and more than 4,000 MDMA pills were seized at the Port of Dover, conveniently being smuggled into the country the week of the country’s biggest festival – Glastonbury.

Seema Malhotra, the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Migration and Citizenship, who oversees Border Force, told The Times: “We want people to have fun at festivals without criminals flooding events with drugs.”

In May, a 22-year old Dutch man was arrested at Ibiza airport after attempting to smuggle over 160,000 ecstasy pills onto the island. The bright pink pills – which were not concealed in any way – were packaged in clear plastic bags and placed inside two suitcases.