Police have busted a big drugs racket in Britain. Cocaine worth $100 million was being smuggled hidden among bananas. The National Crime Agency has arrested 3 people in this case.
Britain: Police have busted a big drugs racket in Britain. Here, an attempt was being made to smuggle cocaine worth 100 million dollars (about Rs 939 crore) by hiding it among bananas. This is the latest case in Britain of smuggling drugs by hiding them under the guise of exporting fruits. The National Crime Agency (NCA) has arrested three people in this case. Those arrested have been identified as 28-year-old Joshua Berry, 37-year-old Daniel Dumitru and 46-year-old Andrew Smith. He was caught from Southampton, England. All three will be presented in the court on April 17.
The arrests come in connection with an investigation into a large consignment of cocaine seized in Southampton earlier this month. Border agency officials found about 1 ton of cocaine in a shipping container filled with bananas. The container had originated from Nicaragua and reached Southampton Port via Panama.
The price of this cocaine in the international market has been estimated at around 75 million British pounds (approximately Rs 9,392,790,000). Due to the charges against these people, they can be sentenced to life imprisonment. “This is a very large consignment of cocaine seized in the UK,” National Crime Agency branch commander Saju Sasikumar said in a statement.
This is not the first time that cocaine is being smuggled by hiding it in a consignment of bananas. Earlier, similar drugs have been seized in Russia, Norway, Dominican Republic, Greece and Bulgaria. In the same year in February 2024, more than 12,500 pounds of cocaine was found among bananas at the Southampton Docks. This was the biggest drug recovery ever in the history of the country.