Irish and Dutch authorities seized up to $41 million worth of cocaine disguised as charcoal.
The drugs were stashed in two shipping containers entering the port of Rotterdam in the Netherlands, traveling from South America. Law enforcement detected the cocaine among bags of real charcoal with the help of K9 dogs and X-ray scanners. Authorities believe the product would have continued its route to Ireland.
According to the Forensic Science Ireland (FSI), it “will take a number of days and perhaps longer for FSI to extract the cocaine from the product within which it is concealed.” John O’Driscoll, assistant commissioner of the national police, said, “This is a significant development in the Garda Síochána’s [Ireland’s national police] effort to disrupt and dismantle organised crime groups suspected to be involved in the importation of cocaine and other drugs into Ireland.”
Drug trafficking from South America is an international market traversing seas and borders. The US has experienced a surge in criminal drug activity, FBA previously reported, “Methamphetamine, Cocaine, heroin and fentanyl all come through the southern border. In 2017, former Public Safety Secretary of Mexico Garcia alleged that $64 billion dollars of drugs pour into America from Mexico alone every year.”
