Border Force officers have seized approximately one tonne of cocaine with an estimated street value of £80 million during a significant operation at an Essex port.
The National Crime Agency (NCA) has launched an investigation following the discovery at London Gateway port on Friday.
The illicit consignment was found packaged in several holdalls within a shipping container that had arrived from Panama.
Officials said the container, which also held a legitimate cover load of ceramics and kitchenware, was destined for Norway.
NCA officers believe the haul would have been worth around £80 million if it had been cut and sold on the streets of the UK.
NCA senior investigating officer Paul Orchard said: “This was a fantastic seizure by our colleagues at Border Force, and taking this amount of cocaine out of circulation will have deprived the organised criminals involved of millions in profits.
“At this point we don’t believe the UK was the end destination for this consignment, but we are working with international partners to identify the routing and target those involved. Those investigations continue.”
Earlier this month, police revealed they had seized an “unusual” collection of items, including a gold bar, a gold suitcase, and even gold teeth, during a week-long operation targeting drug gangs that led to over 2,000 arrests.
Nearly 10 per cent of those detained were children, some as young as 14, highlighting the exploitation by these criminal networks.
Officers also closed 335 “drug lines” suspected of distributing heroin, cocaine, and spice-laced vapes across various towns and cities, the National Police Chiefs’ Council reported.
These county lines gangs are known for exploiting vulnerable adults and children, utilising dedicated phone lines to facilitate the transport and sale of illegal drugs.
Police seizures of cocaine hit a record high last year with 23,706 seizures logged in the year to March 2025 – up 13 per cent from the previous year.
Meanwhile, Border Force and police forces intercepted drugs on a record-breaking 269,000 occasions, an increase of 24 per cent on the year before.
