More than $130 million in cocaine recovered from ship in London port by U.K. authorities

British authorities have seized 2.4 metric tonnes of cocaine in a ship arriving in England from Panama, the authorities announced on Saturday, calling it one of the largest drug busts in the United Kingdom.

Medicines, assessed at 96 million pounds ($ 132 million), were found under containers on a ship at the Port of London Gateway, east of the British capital. The shipment was discovered after what the officials said they were an intelligence operation.

The British Interior Ministry, the Home Office, said it was the sixth greatest recorded cocaine crisis.

The maritime director of the British border force, Charlie Eastauugh, said that the crisis was “only an example of how maritime officers of the border forces are dedicated to a step ahead of the criminal gangs that threaten our security.

“Our message to these criminals is clear-more than ever before, we use the International Intelligence and Cooperation of the Application of Laws to disrupt and dismantle your operations,” he said.

Great Britain is one of the largest European markets for cocaine, according to the National Crime Agency. The British government claims that deaths related to cocaine in England and Wales increased by 31% between 2022 and 2023.

Last week, the The Mexican navy seized 3.5 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a semi-submersible ship off the Pacific coast, releasing a video from “Narco Sub” be intercepted.

In April, an American Coast Guard crew seized around 10,000 pounds of cocaine in a fishing boat in the Atlantic Ocean, The agency said. Transport was worth around $ 74 million.