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Customs authorities in the Netherlands seized more than 1.6 tonnes of cocaine hidden in containers of bananas, cement and cocoa in the port of Rotterdam, prosecutors said on Wednesday (December 29th). It is learned that the drugs worth 127 million euros were hidden in 3 containers that arrived in the largest port in Europe.
“The first container came from Ecuador and was loaded with bananas destined for a company in Barendrecht, near Rotterdam,” prosecutors said. “The cocaine in the second container was found in a consignment of cocoa, also from Ecuador, but which had transited through Colombia and then arrived via Antwerp,” they said.
A third container, loaded with cement to Portugal had 5 sports bags full of cocaine. Seizures have risen sharply this year in the port of Rotterdam, which is already considered one of Europe’s main ports for drugs, particularly cocaine. Dutch customs authorities said on Tuesday they had seized a record 68 tonnes of cocaine this year, up from 49 tonnes in 2020.
The EU anti-crime body warned that the Netherlands and Belgium were becoming major centers of cocaine, especially for shipments from Colombia. After cannabis, cocaine is the second most popular drug in Western and Central Europe, with about 4.4 million users last year, the report said.
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