Three and a half tons of cocaine: drug finds in the port of Hamburg

Created: 12/29/2022, 2:12 p.m

Customs seized cocaine on the tip of a pocket knife.

© Marcus Brandt/dpa/symbol image

Customs found tons of cocaine worth more than 100 million euros in three containers from South America.

It's one of the biggest finds of the year.

Hamburg - The Hamburg customs investigators have secured more than three and a half tons of cocaine in the port.

"The investigations into the people behind the customs investigation are running at full speed," said the deputy head of the Hamburg customs investigation office, Matthias Virmond, on Thursday.

As early as November 29 of this year, officials had secured a good two tons of cocaine between canned tuna in a container from Ecuador.

Just a few days later, on December 1, they found more than a ton and a half of cocaine in two containers from Brazil loaded with bags of metal granules.

"The seizures of these two large quantities provide further evidence of the continuing high pressure of cocaine supply to Europe," Virmond said.

The drugs are said to be worth at least 100 million euros.

At the end of January, officials discovered the largest amount of drugs in the port of the year in a container with bananas from Ecuador: a good 2.6 tons.

In total, customs found around 9.5 tons of cocaine in 2022 - significantly less than the record amount of 19 tons in the previous year.

dpa