German police seize 1.5 tons of cocaine at Hamburg port
Hamburg authorities discovered 1.5 tons of cocaine in a container freight, one of the largest quantities ever seized in the northern German port city, a spokesperson for the Customs Investigations Office said on Monday.
The massive stash, which has an estimated street value of
around €300 million ($353 million), was hidden between sacks of rice in the
container which came from Guyana, local newspaper Hamburger Abendblatt
reported.
"The 1.5 tons of cocaine seized may be a highly pure
drug, which would be tripled in price for street sales," the Hamburger
Abendblatt quoted an official as saying.
The container had arrived in Hamburg's port at the end of
June on the 300-meter-long container ship, "CMA CGM Jean Gabriel."
Here, the container was to be loaded onto a feeder ship
together with 11 other transport containers and then ultimately carry the cargo
to Poland. For this purpose, the container was temporarily stored at the
Hamburg terminal.
Investigators at the Joint Customs and Police Investigation
Group (JIT) had reportedly received a tip-off about drug smuggling.
The container in question was then taken to the city's
Waltershof customs office and examined in a testing facility. Officers found 47
large packages hidden between the rice sacks and within those packages, a total
of 1,277 small parcels with cocaine.
The parcels all had various symbols on them, including a
cat's face, the Gallic rooster, and the Ampelmännchen (red and green traffic
light symbols shown on pedestrian signals in Germany). Several hundred of the
packages were marked with the same logo.
Authorities presumed the cocaine was to be distributed from
Poland to bulk buyers all over Europe who would then sell the drugs to street
dealers.
The latest find is among the largest quantities of cocaine
ever seized in Hamburg. A year ago, customs officers seized 4.5 tons of cocaine
with a street value of almost €1 billion. The narcotic was transported by a
cargo ship from Uruguayand was destined for Antwerp in Belgium.
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