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UK Border Force Seizes One Tonne of Cocaine at London Gateway Port

The case points to traffickers using UK ports as transit stops.

Overview

  • Border Force officers found the drugs Friday at London Gateway in Essex, prompting an NCA investigation.
  • The cocaine was packed in holdalls inside a container from Panama and hidden among ceramics and kitchenware.
  • Officials say the container was bound for Norway and the UK was not the final stop.
  • NCA officers estimate a street value of about £80 million if cut and sold in the UK, though one local report put it at £8 million.
  • Police report record drug seizures in the year to March 2025, and a recent crackdown on county lines gangs that sell drugs via dedicated phone numbers and often exploit children closed 335 lines and led to over 2,000 arrests.