Millions of pounds worth of cocaine hidden in the hull of a container ship has been seized by police divers.
The UK´s National Crime Agency has seized cocaine hidden deep within a container ship at Sheerness Port in Kent as part of its investigation involving police officers and Border Force, the authority announced Saturday.
The cocaine is likely to have had a UK street value of more than £10 million once cut and sold, the National Crime Agency (NCA) said.
It is one of only two underwater concealments of class A drugs of its kind ever discovered in the UK, the last being at Bristol in November 2021 when 46 kilos of cocaine was detected.
The authorities did not release the ship’s name, but said the drugs, which weighed 137 kilos, were found on a Panamanian-registered ship carrying a load of bananas.
They had been placed in four large holdalls which were hidden below the water line inside the sea chest, an intake area for sea water to assist stability.
The ship was destined for the Netherlands but, on the basis of information supplied by the NCA, specialist teams undertook searches after the vessel docked at Sheerness on 14 October.
The NCA said a specialist national police dive team took five hours to recover the drugs, which were behind bolted-up grills, after an underwater search of the ship’s hull in reduced visibility.
It is also reported that assistance was also provided by port operator Peel Ports.
David Phillips, NCA´s operations manager, said: “This was an extremely rare and sophisticated concealment, and shows how far criminal networks will go to get dangerous drugs like cocaine into circulation.
“The sale of such class A drugs is controlled by gangs who inflict violence and exploitation in our communities.
“I’d like to thank the police dive team, who worked in challenging conditions to recover the drugs, assisted by our colleagues in Border Force.
“Such collaboration shows our collective determination to tackle organised criminal groups head on and stem the supply of harmful drugs like cocaine.”
NCA investigators believe the end destination for the drugs was likely to have been the Netherlands, and are now working with law enforcement partners there and in Panama.
Stephen Whitton, deputy director of Border Force Maritime Command, noted: “The combined efforts of the NCA, police and Border Force, have prevented £10 million worth of cocaine from plaguing our streets and countries nearby. Border Force remain committed to working round the clock to intercept drug supply chains and will continue work closely with our counterparts to identify and prevent the new methods criminals take to smuggling illegal drugs, in or out of the UK.”
