Cologne and Hamburg: Customs find drugs worth millions

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The spokesman for the main customs office in Cologne shows pictures made from cocaine.

Photo: Main Customs Office Cologne

In the past twelve weeks, around 114 kilograms of marijuana, almost eleven kilograms of cocaine and around 16 kilograms of ketamine have been withdrawn from traffic at Cologne/Bonn Airport.

Customs also found almost 2.7 kilograms of crystal meth, more than eight kilograms of amphetamine, more than 1.3 kilograms of heroin and more than 8,300 ecstasy pills.

The press spokesman for the main customs office in Cologne said that the seizure of five kilograms of high-purity cocaine, which had been pressed very flat and painted for camouflage, was particularly noteworthy.

"The amount of these cocaine pictures alone would have resulted in a single dose for as many people as fit in the sold-out stadium of 1. FC Köln."

Cocaine was also disguised as mashed potatoes.

Heroin and crystal meth as well as hashish were hidden between children's toys.

These are good examples of the daily challenge of not being fooled by the look or presentation of the packages and their contents.

All drug consignments were checked by customs as part of the fight against international drug smuggling on their way through Cologne/Bonn Airport.

For tactical reasons, it was said that no further information on routes could be given.

182 kilograms of crystal meth in Hamburg

In Hamburg, investigators have confiscated a record amount of the drug crystal meth in the port.

Officials found 182 kilograms in a water treatment machine, according to customs in the Hanseatic city.

This is the largest amount that has ever been discovered in a find in Germany.

The drugs were hidden at great expense and had to be removed from the machine using heavy equipment.

The container coming from Mexico had already been selected for an X-ray check in May.

The officials noticed suspicious structures in the water filter system.

They eventually found 194 packets of methamphetamine in the filter tubes.

According to an evaluation by chemists, the drugs were highly pure crystal meth. Officials put the black market value at around 14 million euros.

The affected water treatment plant was intended for a company in another European country.

kha/dpa/AFP