Dutch seize huge cocaine shipment hidden in cassava roots from Costa Rica

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Dutch customs officers confiscated over three tons of cocaine stashed in a container of cassava roots in Rotterdam harbor, the second largest haul to date for Europe’s largest port, prosecutors said Sunday.

“The cocaine was in a container with cassava from Costa Rica packed with 3,003 packages weighing a total of 3.5 tons,” the Public Prosecutor’s office said in a statement.

The cocaine had a total street value of 120 million euros ($149 million), added the statement, saying the drugs were discovered in a container on a business premise in the massive harbor.

The drugs were then destroyed.

“The haul is the second-largest ever in the Rotterdam harbor,” prosecutors said.

In 2005, law enforcement agents discovered 4.2 tons of cocaine hidden in cable reels in the Rotterdam port.

Officials are now trying to track those behind the huge haul, prosecutors said.