Record-Breaking 800Kg Of Cocaine Worth €108.2 Million Seized At Malta’s Freeport
A record-breaking amount of 800kg of cocaine has been seized by customs officials at Malta’s freeport.
Today’s seizure is historical both in its size and in its street value, which has been estimated to be worth €108.2 million.
In a long operation, that spanned from Wednesday morning till late Thursday afternoon, customs officials, stationed at the Freeport Scanning facility, intercepted and seized the cocaine hidden in a 40ft reefer container.
The cargo was en-route from the port of Turbo, in Columbia, to the port of Mersin, in Turkey, with a refrigerated payload of 1,200 boxes of bananas.
The officials, together with members from the Malta Police Drug Squad who were called to the scene, opened the reefer and started physically inspecting all the boxes and, subsequently,
The packets carried a net weight of 1kg each and were hidden within the boxes of fruit. However, the difference in density and consistency was immediately flagged by the scanning officials.
The case has been handed over to the Malta Police Drug Force, for further investigation, and duty Magistrate Marsianne Farrugia is leading the inquiry.
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