These men, aged between 24 and 59, are suspected of belonging to the British branch of a "well-established" international criminal group having imported from the Netherlands more than 50 tons of heroin, cocaine and cannabis worth " several billion pounds ", using" Dutch and British front companies, "the NCA said in a statement.
The scale of this drug trafficking was revealed after the interception, in September 2018, of three loads containing 351 kilos of cocaine, 92 kilos of heroin, 250 kilos of cannabis and 1,850 tons of hashish, a total value of 38 million pounds (42.3 million euros) on resale.
Hidden in loads of vegetables
The NCA believes that on many other occasions, drugs were imported into the UK between February 2017 and October 2018, hidden in shipments of vegetables and juices transported by heavy trucks via British ports.
"We suspect that these men were involved in an industrial-scale operation – the largest ever found in the UK – importing tons of deadly drugs that were distributed to criminal groups across the country."commented Jayne Lloyd, Regional Investigation Manager at NCA.
In collaboration with the Dutch police, "We believe we have dismantled a well-established drug supply route"she added. As part of the investigation, four men and two women were arrested in April in the Netherlands on the basis of European arrest warrants. They are awaiting extradition to the United Kingdom.
Source link
https://www.rtl.be/info/monde/europe/demantelement-du-plus-vaste-trafic-de-drogue-jamais-decouvert-au-royaume-uni-1163909.aspx
