Industrial magnets used to hide 4,830 kg of cocaine; Among largest Dutch drug busts ever
Customs officers found a total of 4,882 packages of cocaine, with around 4,830 kilos of cocaine in them, on January 8 and January 9. The drugs were discovered during a routine check of two shipping containers filled with electrical magnets from Ecuador. It is one of the biggest drug seizures on record, in which the Netherlands was the intended end destination.
Customs detected anomalies in the containers during cargo scans. After being monitored, the containers were ultimately delivered on January 22, 2026, to a business located in the municipality of Moerdijk, in Noord-Brabant.
On January 22, three people were taken into custody as part of the case. Two have since been released, while a 52-year-old man from Sliedrecht appeared before an examining magistrate and will remain in pretrial detention for a minimum of 14 additional days.
The case is being handled by the HARC team, a joint task force comprising Customs, the FIOD, the Seaport Police, and the Public Prosecution Service, and additional arrests remain a possibility.
The seized cocaine has now been disposed of. Authorities and partner agencies have stated that there is no evidence linking the Moerdijk company itself to the trafficking, noting that the containers were intentionally released to track the follow-up stage of the investigation.
Based on current market rates in 2026, a seizure of 4,830 kilos has an estimated street value of approximately 360 million to 400 million euros.
