German customs has confiscated a record 4.5 metric tons (5 short tons) of cocaine in a shipping container in Hamburg, northern Germany, with a street value of nearly €1 billion ($1.1 billion).

The drugs were discovered two weeks ago during a routine check, resulting in the largest cocaine shipment ever seized in Germany.

More than 4,200 packages in 211 sports bags were discovered in a freight container that shippers claimed was full of soybeans. The shipment was being transported from Montevideo in Uruguay, via Hamburg, to Antwerp, Belgium.

"This enormous amount represents the largest individual seizure of cocaine in Germany," the Hamburg Customs agency said in a statement on Friday.

"Assuming that this likely high-purity cocaine can be cut to triple the amount for street sale, the 4.5 tons have a street value of approximately €1 billion."

The cocaine has already been destroyed, under strict extensive security measures.

Gateway to the world

Hamburg's port, Germany's largest and Europe's third busiest, is often referred to as the "gateway to the world" as the country's trade and travel has relied heavily on it throughout its history.

The EU Drug Markets Report found that Rotterdam was the main point of entry for drug smugglers, but that Hamburg was handling increasing traffic.

In recent years, cocaine shipments of up to one ton have been detected on numerous occasions, but Friday's announcement was an unprecedented amount.

In 2018, German authorities destroyed drugs with a combined street value of €520 million ($592 million).

Germany has become notorious for drug usage. In March this year, it topped a Europewide study for crystal meth and amphetamine use following close examination of the country's wastewater.

jsi/aw (AFP, dpa)

Germany, the original drug lab Off to war The Nazis sent doped-up soldiers to the front in Poland in 1939 and to France the following year. During the invasion of France, a whopping 35 million tablets of the methamphetamine Pervitin were distributed to soldiers, who named the miracle pill "Panzerschokolade" ("tank chocolate"). It wasn't just the Germans, however: the Allies gave their troops drugs, too.

Germany, the original drug lab Alert and fearless A Japanese chemist created a liquid version of what was to become the German Wehrmacht's miracle pill. The Berlin-based drug firm Temmler refined the drug and took out a patent in 1937. A year later, Pervitin was sold over the counter. It left people alert, fearless, and without need of food or drink. Pervitin is still on the market - illegally - and under a different name: Crystal Meth.

Germany, the original drug lab His own best customer? Historians disagree over whether the Führer himself was addicted to Pervitin. Files kept by Hitler's personal doctor, Theo Morell, show a scribbled "x" in reference to a cocktail of medication he was given on any given day - but it isn't exactly clear what it refers to. We do know, though, that Hitler was on a mix of powerful drugs.

Germany, the original drug lab "Miracle drug" Heroin German chemists' inventive talents go back even further than the Nazi era, however. "No cough thanks to heroin," was the ad slogan for a cough medicine produced by the German drug company Bayer in the late 19th century. Heroin was prescribed to patients - adults and children - suffering from epilepsy, asthma, schizophrenia and heart disease. Any side effects? Bayer listed constipation.

Germany, the original drug lab Creative Chemists Felix Hoffmann is perhaps best known for inventing Aspirin. But that's not all. He also developed heroin while experimenting with acetic acid. Hoffmann combined the acid with morphine, an extract from the poppy pod. Heroin was legal in Germany until 1971 when it was finally outlawed.

Germany, the original drug lab Cocaine for opthamologists In 1862, the Darmstadt-based firm Merck started producing large amounts of cocaine as a local anesthetic for ophthalmologists. German chemist, Albert Niemann, had previously isolated an alkaloid he named cocaine from South American coca leaves. Niemann died shortly after discovering cocaine - of lung problems.

Germany, the original drug lab Euphoria and vitality Sigmund Freud, an Austrian neurologist and the "father of psychoanalysis," consumed cocaine for scientific purposes. In his Cocaine Papers study, Freud described the drug as harmless. He observed "euphoria, more vitality and [a] capacity for work." His enthusiasm waned, however, after a friend died of an overdose. At that time doctors prescribed cocaine for headaches and stomach problems.

Germany, the original drug lab MDMA patent American chemist, Alexander Shulgin, is widely believed to have invented the party drug ecstasy. But in reality, he rediscovered the compound. The German firm Merck had originally developed and filed for a patent for a colorless oil under the name 3,4-Methylendioxymethamphetamine - MDMA - in 1912. Back then, chemists thought the substance had no commercial value.

Germany, the original drug lab The past casts a long shadow These German chemists' inventions are still having an impact today. According to estimates by the United Nations about 190,000 people died worldwide in 2013 because of illegal drug consumption. However, alcohol, a legal drug, is responsible for far more deaths. The WHO says 5.9 percent of all deaths in 2012 were due to alcohol consumption - that's 3.3 million people. Author: Nicolas Martin / db



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