French customs officials have confiscated almost 3.9 tonnes of cocaine, valued at roughly €225 million (approximately US$261 million), that was concealed inside a container of plastic waste arriving from Ghana at the northern French port of Dunkirk.
The interception took place on Thursday, 10 September. According to France’s organised crime prosecutor’s office, the container was partly destined for Antwerp in Belgium.
The operation stemmed from a targeted effort by the judicial police targeting a suspected criminal network behind the shipment. The seized cocaine has already been destroyed, and prosecutors have launched an investigation into both the consignment and the network believed to have organised it.
Investigators are examining charges related to the organised importation of narcotics and involvement in a criminal association offences that can carry prison sentences of up to 10 years under French law.
The haul underscores ongoing European efforts to disrupt major international drug-trafficking routes and intercept large volumes of cocaine entering the continent. The case is expected to form part of a wider probe into the movement of the drugs from Ghana to France and the group allegedly responsible.
