Cocaine worth £7m seized from coach at Eastern Docks

Border Force officers at the inward coach controls at Dover's Eastern Docks have seized approximately 149 kilos of cocaine with a likely potential street value in excess of £7 million.

The drugs were discovered in the late evening of Saturday (6 June 2015), when officers stopped a Romanian-registered coach carrying 43 passengers. The vehicle was searched using a Border Force detector dog and the drugs were discovered within the bodywork of the coach.

Three men were arrested and the investigation passed to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Two brothers from Romania were later charged with the attempted importation and appeared before Folkestone Magistrates Court on Monday, 8 June. Gheorghe Buciuta, 35, and Ioan Buciuta, 52, both withheld their pleas and were remanded in custody. The pair will next appear at Maidstone Crown Court on 26 June.

A third man, aged 26 also from Romania, has been bailed while NCA enquiries continue.

Paul Morgan, Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: "Every year Border Force officers seize hundreds of million of pounds of Class A drugs. Working with law enforcement colleagues like the NCA we are determined to prevent drug trafficking and put those responsible behind bars.

"This is another example of how our officers have prevented dangerous class A drugs from ending up on the streets of the UK."