A shipment labeled soy beans entered Germany two weeks ago. But after a routine inspection, German customs officials found more than 200 duffel bags containing cocaine.

Officials said Friday that the duffel bags contained hundreds of packets with more than $1 billion worth of cocaine. They were confiscated by port customs officials in Hamburg, Germany, which houses the third-largest port in Europe – and the largest in the country.

The shipment was being transported from Montevideo, Uruguay, to Antwerp, Belgium, before it was discovered by German officials.

The 211 duffel bags contained 5 tons or nearly 10,000 pounds of cocaine. They were packed in 4,200 sachets.

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Assuming that the cocaine could be cut to triple the amount for street sale, officials estimated its street value at 1 billion euros (approximately $1.1 billion).

The drugs, according to Hamburg customs officials, were already destroyed “amid strict secrecy and extensive security precautions.”

It was the country's biggest single seizure of cocaine to date.

In June, American officials seized over 35,000 tons of cocaine – the largest in U.S. customs history – from a ship at a port in Philadelphia.

The seizure resulted in the arrests of six crew members, all of whom were charged with conspiracy to possess cocaine aboard a ship.

Contributing: The Associated Press. Follow Joshua Bote on Twitter: @joshua_bote