Customs officials in the port of Hamburg in Germany have unearthed what has been described as the largest single cocaine haul in the country in recent years.
Officials in Germany are reporting that 1.5 tons of cocaine was found stashed in a container with a rice shipment from Guyana.
The container arrived aboard the container vessel,CMA CGM Jean Gabriel.
According to reports out of Germany, the Police found the container just after it had been offloaded in the container yard at the Port.
It had been scheduled to be transshipped to Poland.
German investigators reportedly received a confidential tip about the drug smuggling operation and began a thorough search of the container yard.
When this contained was examined at the city’s customs office investigators told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper that they discovered 47 large packages of cocaine hidden between sacks of rice coming from Guyana.
The investigators estimated the value of the cocaine at more than US$350 million. They assumed after reaching Poland the drugs would have been sold in bulk and ultimately been on the streets across Europe.
Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, reported that this was among the largest quantities of cocaine ever seized in Hamburg.
The customs officials said that this discovery was proof that the illegal narcotics business was continuing despite all the restrictions due to the global pandemic.
Port of Hamburg in Germany
Guyana’s Customs Anti Narcotics Unit is aware of the bust and is working along with the Guyana Revenue Authority’s Customs Department to get details on the rice shipment that was loaded on the container.
A senior official of CANU has also indicated that they are working closely with the GERMAN Security officials on the issue as an investigation is launchd into the shipment locally.