Border Force officers cut open industrial shipment, uncover £72 million cocaine haul

Border Force officers cut open two generators after suspecting the shipment was tampered with, a move that carried the risk of a large damages claim if nothing had been found. The generators, valued at about £700,000, were opened with an angle grinder. Inside, investigators discovered a tonne of cocaine with a street value of about £72 million, hidden inside the machinery. The equipment weighed roughly 40 tonnes in total and had arrived at London Gateway port on the north bank of the River Thames in Thurrock, Essex, from South America earlier this year.

Acting on what authorities described as experience and nous, Border Force teams pressed the shipment to be opened for inspection rather than taking a more cautious approach. The decision to cut into the heavy machinery carried potential risk of damages, and a large bill could have followed if no drugs were found. Instead, the move yielded a major seizure that the Home Office described as a significant blow to criminal networks.

A Home Office spokesman said officers acted on strong intelligence to strike a significant blow against criminal networks and that the seizure illustrates how organized crime groups are using ever-more sophisticated methods to evade detection. The spokesman noted that smugglers would have known Border Force faced paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds had the equipment been damaged without exposing the hidden drugs.

Home Office Minister Mike Tapp said drug smugglers believed the threat of a huge damages bill would deter Border Force from intercepting the cocaine shipment. He said the officers were one step ahead, using their experience and nous to cost criminal gangs £72 million.

National Crime Agency investigators are pursuing the case, and a suspect has been charged in connection with the operation.

Officials said the NCA’s inquiry is ongoing and one person has been charged in relation to the investigation. The seizure comes amid broader concerns about Britain’s evolving cocaine market and the methods used by traffickers to conceal shipments.

There were 1,118 cocaine-related deaths in England and Wales in 2023, up 31 percent from the previous year, according to official figures published in November. Cocaine has become the second most-used drug in Britain after cannabis over the past decade, a trend that has shaped policing and public health responses.

Europol recently warned that cocaine production in Latin America has reached unprecedented levels while wholesale prices in Europe have dropped to historic lows, and that organized crime groups are exploiting new trafficking methods in a global, interconnected market. The agency noted that cocaine shipments to the EU are now concealed in highly sophisticated ways, making detection at ports increasingly difficult.

Drug shipments have previously been discovered hidden in solar water heaters from Mexico and inside crane equipment, underscoring the evolving concealment tactics used by criminal networks as enforcement capabilities adapt.