£40 million worth of cocaine found in Banana shipment

 

 

300kg of cocaine valued at £40 million has been discovered in a cargo vessel Star Stratos that was bringing bananas into the UK from Colombia.
The discovery was made following a search of the vessel at Portsmouth, Hampshire. The seizure followed a joint effort by the National Crime Agency, Border Force and the Irish Garda as investigation continues in the UK and Ireland with support from the An Garda Siochana.

Deputy director of the NCA said “Working with our law enforcement partners in the UK and Ireland we have successfully prevented a huge quantity of what is likely to be very high purity cocaine reaching our streets".
“Our investigations into the organized crime groups likely to be responsible for this shipment continues.
“This seizure once again demonstrates the international reach of the NCA and the impact we are having on the criminal networks involved in drug trafficking.”

This is the second joint operation between the NCA and An Garda Siochana which has resulted in a huge cocaine seizure in less than three months.
In September around a tonne of cocaine was seized by the Irish Naval Service from the yacht Makayabella around 300 miles off the south west coast of Ireland.