The largest seizure of drugs in European history took place this week in collaboration between the German, Dutch and Belgian police.
23 tons of pure cocaine were seized at three different ports after police scanned five cargo containers arriving from Paraguay. The German target estimated that the value of the cocaine seized was several billion euros.
At the same time, Dutch police arrested a 26-year-old man on suspicion of involvement in drug expansion into EU territory. In the port of Antwerp the drugs were hidden in a shipment of turning trees while in Hamburg they were hidden in paint cans. The drugs were seized behind a layer of ordinary products designed to mislead the authorities.
“This is the largest amount of drugs ever seized in Europe and probably one of the largest ever seized worldwide,” the German customs authorities said in a press release, estimating the value of cocaine seized in Hamburg alone at € 3.5 billion.
In the past, a larger shipment of cocaine was seized to Europe, but most of it was found in South America, on its way to be shipped to various European countries. Paraguay has in recent years become a center of drug smuggling to Europe and the United States.