BRITAIN - A police search of the cargo vessel Star Stratos revealed roughly 660lbs of cocaine, valued at aproximately £40 million (roughly $62 million). The authorities, led by the National Crime Agency (NCA), Border Force and Irish police, raided the boats. Once inside, authorities discovered the stash of cocaine hidden within a shipment of bananas which the vessel was attempting to transport into the port.
"Working with our law enforcement partners in the UK and Ireland we have successfully prevented a huge quantity of what is likely to be very high purity cocaine reaching our streets," shared Deputy Director Tom Dowdall. He added that authorities are still currently searching for the organized crime groups behind this event.
According to BBC, this is the second joint operation between the NCA and the Irish police, the An Garda Síochána, to have yielded a seizure of this magnitude within the last three months. Last September, roughly a ton of cocaine was seized by the Irish Naval Service roughly 300 miles off the south-west coast of Ireland.
