[WATCH] Record €300 million cocaine bust in 1.5 tonne seizure at Freeport
Customs seize yet another record-breaking, Colombian cocaine consignment at Malta Freeport that was bound for Slovenia
Maltese customs officials seized a record-breaking 1.5 tonnes of cocaine stashed in a container transporting bananas from Colombia to Slovenia.
The container was stopped at Malta Freeport and the drugs have an estimated street value of €300 million.
The Customs Department said in a statement that the team stationed at the Freeport scanning facility, seized 50 bags containing 1,494 blocks of cocaine, weighing 1kg each, during a day-long operation.
The container was en-route to Koper in Slovenia from Colombia.
The case was handed over to the Malta police drug squad for further investigation and duty magistrate Leonard Caruana is leading the inquiry.
Customs said that the seizure is historical both in size and value and follows another 800kg cocaine bust last month at Malta Freeport.
In 2019, customs officials seized a total of 750kg of cocaine in 13 separate operations. In 2020, 612kg of cocaine were discovered, while 2021 saw 740kg of the drug being stopped in Malta.