European authorities seized more than 50,000 pounds of cocaine worth billions of euros on Wednesday, calling it the greatest such failure the continent has ever seen.
CNN reported that authorities in Germany and Belgium made the seizure during an operation that lasted more than a week and resulted in the arrest of one man from the Netherlands.
Rene Matschke, head of the German customs investigation department, told CNN that authorities in Hamburg opened three containers that were reported to contain construction filler, based on a tip from Dutch colleagues.
Although construction filler was found in the containers, this also applied to packaging containing cocaine.
According to Matschke, it was “quite disgusting to separate the cocaine from the putty because it is so sticky.”
CNN reports that 35,658 pounds of cocaine was found in the construction filler containers.
The seizure in Hamburg led authorities to a new shipment of 11 containers bound for Antwerp from Panama. The Belgian authorities found a further 15,873 pounds of cocaine in the Panamanian shipment.
According to CNN, these seizures are not only the largest amount of drugs intercepted by authorities in Europe, but possibly also one of the largest in the world.
“We have managed to seize a record amount of cocaine. With this battle against organized drug crime – also thanks to the exemplary cooperation with the European partner authorities – German customs has once again impressively demonstrated its strength. En masse to strengthen customs is at work, ”says Rolf Bösinger, German State Secretary at the Federal Ministry of Finance.