About €419 million in cocaine found at the Rotterdam port

Roughly 5,600 kilograms of cocaine was intercepted in the port of Rotterdam during 11 different seizures between April 17 and May 10. The cocaine had an estimated value of 419 million euros. The drugs were entirely contained in shipments from countries in the Americas.

The biggest find was on April 17, when a total of 2,000 packages of drugs were found in three large crates, according to the Public Prosecution Service (OM). “The crates were in a container in which irregularities were found during the scan. The drugs came from Costa Rica,” the OM stated.

“The fact that drug gangs are becoming increasingly resourceful in finding hiding places became apparent on 2 May.” The OM said that, “1,260 packets of narcotics turned out to be hidden within an American consignment of guitars. An initial investigation revealed that the container had been shipped to Panama via the U.S. and had stood on the quay there for a few days.”

The ship then departed for Rotterdam.

Some of the other drug shipments were hidden among mangos sent from Peru to France, a grape shipment from Chile, copper and scrap material dispatched from Peru, and a container full of bananas from the Dominican Republic.