2.3 tonnes of cocaine seized at Portsmouth International Port

Cocaine, potentially worth £184m on the streets, has been seized at Portsmouth International Port after being found concealed in a shipment of bananas.

The haul is said to be one of the UK’s biggest ever seizures of cocaine – around 2.3 tonnes.

Border Force officers found the drugs after searching a container that arrived on a cargo ship from Colombia on February 13.

The container had arrived on a cargo ship and the haul was ‘masquerading as a legitimate consignment of bananas’.

Ten people were arrested in North London in relation to the seizure after taking delivery of 41 pallets into which the cocaine had been loaded.

The pallets were delivered to an industrial estate in Tottenham, North London, where officers moved in to arrest the five recipients.

The other five men were arrested at a different industrial estate in Enfield.

“Border Force is a key partner and were vital in preventing these drugs from being successfully trafficked into the country,” says John Coles, head of specialist operations at the National Crime Agency (NCA).

“The numbers here speak for themselves; this is a massive seizure which has denied organised criminals hundreds of millions in profits, and is the result of a targeted investigation conducted jointly by the NCA and Met Police.

“We work closely with domestic and international partners to target those at the top of the chain and ensure that transnational drug networks are met with a global response.”

The team works to stop the flow of drugs to the criminal market in London, target criminals that impact on London, as well as disrupting those that make huge profits from this illegal activity.