At the beginning of November, customs secured 300 kilograms of cocaine in the Port of Hamburg. It was now reported that the officers discovered the drugs in a container from the Dominican Republic. The cocaine was hidden in sports bags behind a large load of dental floss. Customs had detected suspicious structures in the charge during X-ray inspection.
As has just become known, customs had already withdrawn 100 kilograms of high-purity cocaine in September. The drug discovered the officials according to the information in an imported by shipping container from Brazil old VW bus.
The smugglers had built in a double floor to hide the cocaine. The officials found it during an X-ray inspection. "It seems like the drug smugglers never run out of creativity for new hiding places, but that's what makes the customs officer's job so exciting," said Michael Schrader, head of the Hamburg-Hafen main customs office.
Multiple cocaine deliveries ensured
According to the customs, the total of 400 kilograms of cocaine would have been stretched three to five times before being sold to consumers. This would have resulted in a street sale value of at least 84 million euros.
Recently, the authorities in Hamburg several times large cocaine shipments fell into the hands. Three weeks ago, police officers discovered more than a ton in a truck on the premises of a freight forwarder. A few days before, customs had confiscated around 200 kilos in a container loaded with coffee, which went to a Hamburg-based company.
Last year, customs in the Hanseatic city seized around four and a half tons of cocaine. "The trend of large-scale customs security in seaports will continue at a high level in 2018," said René Matschke, head of the Hamburg Customs Office.