Border Force seize £3.2m cocaine at Dover Eastern Docks

Border Force officers at Dover’s Eastern Docks have prevented an attempt to smuggle approximately 30 kilos of cocaine into the UK.
 
On Sunday (11 February 2018), Border Force officers at the inward freight controls at Dover’s Eastern Docks stopped a Latvian-registered lorry. Officers searched the vehicle’s trailer and found 30 brown wrapped packages concealed under empty bags intended to contain bird seed.
 
The contents of one of the packages was tested and proved positive for cocaine.
 
David Smith, Deputy Director of Border Force South East and Europe said: "Border Force officers are at the forefront of the fight to keep illegal drugs out of the country. The estimated street value of this cocaine would have been around £3.2 million, this seizure will have made a considerable dent in the profits of the criminals involved.

"Every year Border Force officers operating at the UK border seize Class A drugs worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Working with law enforcement partners like the National Crime Agency (NCA) we are determined to prevent drug trafficking and to bring those responsible to justice."

A Latvian national was arrested and the investigation passed to the NCA. He was later released under investigation while NCA enquiries continue.

Border Force officers use hi-tech search equipment to combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the country.

They use an array of search techniques including sniffer dogs, carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners - as well as visual searches - to find well-hidden stowaways, illegal drugs, firearms and tobacco which would otherwise end up causing harm to local people, businesses and communities.

Anyone with information about activity they suspect may be linked to smuggling should call the hotline on 0800 59 5000.