A year of major drugs seizures
There has been a surge in the availability of cocaine due to a huge increase in global cultivation of the coca leaf plant, which is at its highest level for almost 20 years. Earlier this year the EU drugs agency warned that European authorities were seizing record quantities of increasingly pure cocaine, while enterprising criminals were setting up "cocaine call centres" to provide fast and flexible delivery services. Issues such as the use of large shipping containers to transport cocaine were proving a major challenge, the European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drugs Addiction (EMCDDA) said. - In August customs officials in the German city of Hamburg found more than 4 tonnes of cocaine with a street value of about €1bn (1.1bn; £850m) during a routine check. The shipment was being transported from Montevideo in Uruguay to Belgium. It was listed as soya beans and the drugs were hidden in sports bags inside the shipping container - In June, Australian authorities seized the nation's largest-ever haul of methamphetamine. The 1.6 tonnes of the drug, with an estimated street value of A$1.2bn (£660m; $840m), were found hidden inside stereo speakers in a shipment at a Melbourne port. The consignment had come from Thailand - In September nearly 1.3 tonnes of heroin with a street value of £120m ($155m) was found concealed in towels and bathrobes on a container ship in the UK's largest-ever seizure of the drug.DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.
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