Over 70 officers in England were involved in an operation allegedly using a shipment of bananas from Costa Rica to disguise a significant quantity of Cocaine. The value of the seizure was estimated to be 120 million U.S. dollars.
Police detained 7 people, including at least on English port worker. As of today no Costa Ricans have been detained as part of this seizure.
British Minister for Security and Borders Damian Hinds said:
“This seizure has prevented a significant amount of dangerous drugs from ending up on our streets, which not only reduces the harm they cause to communities but also makes a huge dent in the profits of smugglers.
“Joint working, including intelligence sharing, between our Border Force officers, the NCA and wider law enforcement partners is essential to preventing drug trafficking like this.”
While the discovery of shipments of cocaine from Costa Rica to Europe are not uncommon, detected shipments directly to the United Kingdom are very rare.
