Rotterdam, Jan 10, (dpa/GNA) – Dutch investigators seized a record amount of cocaine with a retail value of about 5 billion euros (5.6 billion dollars), in the port of Rotterdam last year.
More than 70,000 kilogrammes had been discovered, about 74 per cent more than in the previous year, the public prosecutor’s office said on Monday. Meanwhile 198 people were arrested, according to the judiciary.
Rotterdam is considered one of the largest ports of entry for cocaine in Europe. More than 2,100 kilogrammes of cocaine was also seized in other parts of the Netherlands, the prosecutors said.
The largest single quantity of cocaine weighing 4,180 kilograms, was found hidden in a load of bananas in December.
In most cases, organized gangs from South America hide the drugs in shipping containers among other imported goods. They are then taken out of the containers and moved on by accomplices.
“One thing is certain,” the prosecutors said, “the criminals are nothing without the help of insiders in the port.” They say they want to take stronger action against corrupt port employees and officials in the future.
GNA