European authorities seized more than 50,000 pounds of cocaine worth billions of euros on Wednesday, classifying it as the biggest such seizure the continent has ever seen.
CNN reported that authorities in Germany and Belgium carried out the seizure in an operation that lasted more than a week and resulted in the arrest of a man from the Netherlands.
The head of the German Customs Investigation, Rene Matschke, told CNN that the authorities in Hamburg opened three containers that were listed as containing building mass, working with a tip from Dutch colleagues.
Although the construction dough was found inside the containers, the cocaine packages did as well.
According to Matschke, it was “very disgusting to separate cocaine from the dough, as it is very sticky”.
CNN reports that 35,658 pounds of cocaine were found inside the construction bulk containers.
The seizure in Hamburg led authorities to another shipment of 11 containers from Panama to Antwerp. Belgian authorities found another 15,873 pounds of cocaine in the Panamanian shipment.
These seizures represent not only the largest amount of drugs intercepted by authorities in Europe, but possibly one of the largest seizures in the world, according to CNN.
“We were able to seize a record amount of cocaine. With this coup against organized narcotics crime – also thanks to exemplary cooperation with European partner authorities – German customs have once again demonstrated their influence in an impressive way. Our strategy of continuing to massively strengthen customs is working, “said Rolf Bösinger, German secretary of state at the Federal Ministry of Finance.