The operation lasted more than a week and culminated Wednesday in the arrest of a 28-year-old man from Vlaardingden, Netherlands, whose address was on the shipment, the Dutch police said.
Working on a tip from colleagues in the Netherlands, customs officials in the German port city of Hamburg opened three containers containing construction kit according to the list, Rene Matschke, head of the German customs investigator, told CNN. In the container testing facility, they found that the cans were loaded not only with putty, but also packets of cocaine.
Researchers found 16,174 kilograms (35,658 pounds) of cocaine hidden in 1,728 tins of construction filler. The containers arrived on a ship from Paraguay, via Tangier and Rotterdam, the police said.
It was “pretty disgusting to separate the cocaine from the putty because it’s so sticky,” Matschke told CNN, adding that the drugs would have a street value of several billion dollars.
Dutch police said a “risk analysis” they conducted prompted German authorities to check the three containers on February 12.
The Dutch authorities said that after that seizure, they started an investigation into the recipient of the Hamburg shipment, which led them to 11 containers en route from Panama to Antwerp, supposedly filled with pineapple, mackerel, squid and wood.
According to the Dutch police, the Belgian authorities found 7,200 kilos of cocaine in the container with blocks of wood on Saturday.
“The intercepted mega shipments to the Netherlands together form an absolute record,” the Dutch police said in a statement. “Never before has so much cocaine been intercepted at once.”
Officials said it was not only the largest cocaine seizure ever in Europe, but also one of the largest single seizures in the world.
Rolf Bösinger, State Secretary of the German Federal Ministry of Finance, praised the customs officials and said: “We managed to seize a record amount of cocaine. With this battle against organized drug crimes – also thanks to the exemplary cooperation with the European partner authorities. – German customs has once again impressively demonstrated its strength. Our strategy to continue to strengthen customs en masse is working. “
Hamburg customs handles about eight million containers per year.