£20M OF COCAINE FOUND WRAPPED INSIDE FROZEN MEAT

More than £20m of cocaine has been found wrapped in blocks of frozen meat, while some 200kg of the drug was packed inside the meat and loaded on to pallets in the back of a Dutch-registered truck, National Crime Agency in Harwich confirms.

The drugs were found after a refrigerated HGV was stopped and checked as it arrived into Harwich, Essex, from Hook of Holland on Monday.

More than 200kg of the drug had been packed inside the meat and loaded on to pallets in the back of the Dutch-registered truck.

The driver, 48-year-old Robert Tromp from Hillegom in the Netherlands, has been charged with attempting to import class A drugs.

He appeared at Colchester Magistrates’ Court on Tuesday and was remanded in custody until his next appearance at Chelmsford Crown Court on 12 December.

National Crime Agency branch commander Jacque Beer said: “While forensic checks are still being carried out on this seizure, it is likely that the total haul would have had a street value in excess of £20m once cut and sold at a street purity level.

“Our investigation into those responsible is continuing, but we can say that this will have put a big dent in the profits of the criminal network likely to be behind it and caused them substantial disruption.”