Customs officers at the Fos-Port-Saint-Louis office intercepted 514 kg of cocaine from Chile on January 28 in one of the basins of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille. According to the police, this is the largest seizure of cocaine ever made on the port platform by customs.
The discovery was made in one of the basins of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, in Fos-sur-Mer.
514 kg of cocaine, this is the largest seizure of cocaine ever made on the port platform by customs, the last major dating from 2012 with 291 kg.
“The value of the goods is estimated at nearly 36 million euros on the illicit drug resale market“, specifies the police headquarters of Marseille.
It was Friday, January 28 that the seizure was made.
“When a ship arrives from Chile, customs officers select several containers for inspection. The passage of these X-rays reveals in one of them, in the middle of a parquet loading, the presence of several sports bags“, indicates the prefecture.
And at the opening, the customs officers note the presence of nearly 450 bars of cocaine which have been extracted from the load, for a total weight of 514 kg.
“This technique of transporting narcotics in a load of legal freight, called rip-off, is particularly popular with criminal organizations, with accomplices at the end of the chain taking responsibility for recovering the narcotics before delivery of the goods to the recipient.“, details the prefecture.
In 2021, French customs seized 18 tonnes of cocaine on national territory, i.e. +106% compared to 2020, according to figures from the Ministry of Public Accounts.
Moreover, Olivier Dussopt, Minister Delegate in charge of Public Accounts, declared: “I congratulate the mobilization of customs officers and customs officers in Marseille for not leaving the field open to criminal networks and protecting our territory and our fellow citizens.s”.