Discovery of hundreds of kilos under towels and bathrobes is one of Britain’s largest hauls

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Hundreds of kilos of heroin worth up to £40m have been found hidden under towels and bathrobes in a shipping container.

It was one of the largest drug seizures in the UK and several suspects were arrested, police said.

Intelligence led to UK, Dutch and Belgian police tracking a container suspected of carrying a large drug shipment en route to Antwerp, according to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

A spokesman said the container was believed to have begun its sea voyage in Oman, stopping in various locations before the ship docked in Felixstowe, Suffolk, on 1 August.

The next day officers from Border Force and the NCA removed a container in which about 398kg (62st 7lbs) of heroin was concealed within a cover load of towels and bathrobes. The drug haul was removed and the container returned to the vessel, which carried on to Antwerp.

On arrival, the container was collected by lorry and taken to Rotterdam – all the time under police surveillance. On Monday, as suspects attempted to unload the contents, Dutch police made two arrests.

At the same time the NCA arrested a man from Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, who being questioned.

The drugs would be worth at least £9m to organised criminals selling the consignment at wholesale, and at least £40m at street level in the UK and other European countries, the NCA said.

Colin Williams, an NCA regional operations manager, said: “The seizure of such a large quantity of heroin is the result of a targeted, intelligence-led investigation, carried out by the NCA with international and UK partners.

“It is almost certain that some of these drugs would have been sold in the UK, fuelling violence and exploitation including what we see in county lines offending nationwide.

“The heroin trade also feeds addictions that put users’ lives at risk, while giving rise to crimes such as theft which make people feel unsafe in their communities. The NCA works in the UK and with partners around the world to target the crime groups posing the greatest threat to the UK.”

Mark Kennedy, the Border Force deputy director, said: “Border Force officers operate on the frontline, working every day to keep dangerous class A drugs like this off the UK’s streets.

“Substantial seizures like this help to keep communities safe and hit the organised crime groups involved in the international drugs trade hard.”