A British dockworker was arrested for trying to transport cocaine worth almost €138 million through a port in Vlissingen. Dutch Police confiscated it and sneakily replaced it with fake cocaine. Take that, drug lords!
The ship that was heading from Columbia to the United Kingdom made a stopover in Vlissingen in the province of Zeeland. In hindsight, that might not have been the best idea for them.
During the check, the politie confiscated a whopping 1477 kilogrammes of cocaine from a ship that looked like it was transporting bananas, according to de Telegraaf. 🍌
The cocaine was hidden between pallets of bananas, but the police replaced it with fake drugs before shipping it off to its final destination: England.
… Some British clients were probably very disappointed.
How was the smuggler found?
Now you may be wondering: why replace the real cocaine with fake cocaine and let the culprit go? Why not just arrest him then and there? Good question.
A corrupt port worker involved in importing what he thought was £118m worth of cocaine has been sentenced to 21 years in prison after a National Crime Agency investigation.
— National Crime Agency (NCA) (@NCA_UK) July 10, 2023
Read the full story ➡️ https://t.co/RKOzd3TQsK pic.twitter.com/Twjhy7DDtI
The police let the man think nothing was wrong until he arrived in England. Once there, he was seen on CCTV footage separating the banana pallets and the fake drugs.
He was arrested by local police and sentenced to 21 years in prison. Yikes.
Vlissingen is a drug-hotspot
It’s far from the first time that the police confiscate cocaine in Vlissingen, but it seems to be taking off this year especially.
According to NOS, the amount of cocaine confiscated in the port this year already surpasses that of 2022. 😳
READ MORE | €95 million of cocaine hidden in bananas discovered in Dutch port
Why Vlissingen? Easy, that’s because police surveillance has increased in bigger ports like Rotterdam — leading criminals to seek smaller ports for their… services.
What do you think of the port being used for transporting drugs? Tell us in the comments!