Dutch customs have recently made the largest-ever drug bust in the Port of Rotterdam by seizing eight tons of cocaine from a container aboard a Maersk containership.
According to the Dutch Public Prosecution Service, the drugs represent an “enormous” street value of €600m ($653m).
The container with more than eight tonnes of cocaine came from Ecuador and arrived in Rotterdam via Panama hidden in a consignment of bananas.
When the bust was made last week, Dutch customs did not reveal the company or the ship on which the drugs were found. Maersk confirmed to Danish media outlet Finans that the cocaine was shipped to the Netherlands in one of its containers.
In total, 8,064 one-kilo packages of cocaine were found in 12 pallets of bananas. Customs officers found the packages during a check with drug detection dogs and a container scan. The case is under investigation and the drugs have been destroyed.
This bust was nearly twice the size of the 4.6 tons of cocaine found in 2005 and much larger than the current Dutch record seizure of 3.8 tons of cocaine in 2021. In the first six months of this year, the Netherlands seized 29.7 tons of cocaine.
Although this is a record bust in the Port of Rotterdam and is 23 times more cocaine in one catch than was seized in Maersk’s home country of Denmark all last year, it is eclipsed by the record $1.3bn, 20-tonne cocaine seizure from an MSC containership in the Port of Philadelphia in 2019. The drugs were found on the 9,962 teu box ship MSC Gayane.
Why is Cocaine business happening so easily. I hope there should be an end to it.
Same as how the dickens does human trafficking happen. From news media reports when the Australian Custos discovers illegal drugs and illegal drug making garbage in the shipping containers the container is weighed by the pertained crane as the container is lifted off and then the forklifts weighs the container as it picks the container up. If the container is underweight or overweight for the prescribe contents that is a “red flag”. The forklift takes the container to the X-RAY machine and that gives the Customs officers some information and then the Customs officers then open that container and physically go through the contents. I don’t know at what point the entire container consist gets checked. Not all ports have the technology to be able to weigh containers as they are lifted off the ship or moved to another location in the port. The road freight industry trucks in Australia have to be weighed on a device called a Weigh Bridge. Are there any weigh bridges in the sea ports to weigh the ships because that would be another way of checking if there are suspect cargo onboard. Do the captains get a list of containers and the contents of each container? If they do then it is possible that the listed contents are not correct and it’s drugs instead. Tomato Tin Mafia was several containers with tomato tins listed as tomatoes when it was actually illicit drugs. Those illegal drug filled tomato tins came from Mexico or somewhere near Mexico to an Australian sea port several years ago and I think that the ship’s entire container consist had to be checked. The Captain had no idea that his ship was carrying this muck because it said tomatoes as opposed to illegal drugs. I hope this helps. As to what year this occurred I can’t remember
Hi Ackshay.
I am staunchly anti illegal drugs, grog, gambling as these addictions stuff people’s lives, livelihoods, families and friendships up. Illegal drugs and far too much alcohol can kill people. A friend of mine who is now in the afterlife died from alcohol induced kidney failure. Another friend of ours was an alcoholic and they were both on drugs as well would get together and be drinking and using drugs and the blatant downright stupidity those 2 went on with was just really wrong and insane. They were literally squabbling over trivial unimportant rubbish. Keep well away from idiots who do this garbage
Absolutely agree with you.
Most people that use coke are it addicts and are just having fun on a night out or something. It’s sad what happened to your friend but that was due to alcohol and most illegal drugs are actually safer than booze. The risks can be better managed if it was legal and prohibition is never gonna work. Saying to keep away from ‘idiots’ that do this stuff is just plain rude.
I referring to the behaviour Iof these 2 friends and potentially other people who who get into full blown yelling matches with each other over things that are not worth the angst and stress not the use of this stuff. It wasn’t coke they were using it was marijuana. Mixing alcohol with medications or other drugs is dangerous particularly if it’s pain relief medications, psychiatric medications and far too much alcohol. Marijuana slows the user’s reaction time down and can lower the person’s blood pressure. Combine far too much alcohol with far too much alcohol and that has been known to end people’s lives.
I can be pretty blunt about things at times but I certainly don’t intend any harm. It was a bit too rude I admit. Thanks for pointing it out. I will refrain from the use of that word from now on. I have seen several people who have been users who have had terrible trouble with each other and they are now passed away and the coroner has done their investigations and found that there was high levels of opiodes and some had either alcohol and or marijuana in their systems and that is why I feel so strongly about it but I will definitely keep my word on that word and similar words
Good
What a waste, 8 tonnes of coke destroyed, that’s worth millions. The war on drugs is a failure though, while this one got caught, many slipped through the net. It’s time to legalise and regulate.
I heard on a documentary (can’t remember what it was called or which television station it was on) about heroin and fentanyl. 1 unit of fentanyl has the equivalent effect of minimum 10 units of heroin. Fentanyl is used in procedures done under mild sedation and general anaesthetic and can be given in hospital emergency departments. From having first hand experience of being given fentanyl in theatre and emergency departments (causes light headedness and lowers the blood pressure) please advise users of heroin to not use by themselves make sure they have someone trustworthy with them in case of potential passing out. Users of substances of dependency do not need to have the book thrown at them they need help if things go wrong. They certainly don’t need to be executed either