The 1.5 tons of cocaine was busted by customs officials at port Hamburg in Germany and was hidden in a container between sacks of rice coming from Guyana.
Acting on a confidential tip, the investigators began searching the container yard when the authorities in Germany made the discovery. They estimated the value to be more than $350 million US dollars. Reports coming out of Germany indicate that customs office investigators told the Hamburger Abendblatt newspaper that they discovered 47 large packages of cocaine hidden between sacks of rice coming from Guyana aboard the CMA CGM Jean Gabriel.
After being offloaded in Hamburg, the container was stored in a container yard. It had been scheduled to be transshipped to Poland. Deutsche Welle, Germany’s international broadcaster, reported that this was among the largest quantities of cocaine ever seized in Hamburg.
The customs officials said that this discovery was proof that the illegal narcotics business was continuing despite all the restrictions due to the global pandemic.