Border Force officers who used their “experience and nous” to cut open industrial equipment after it arrived at a British port discovered cocaine worth £72 million stashed inside.
A tonne of the Class A drug was recovered from the machinery at London Gateway near Thurrock, Essex, earlier this year having been dispatched from an undisclosed location in South America.
According to reports, investigators at the facility on the north bank of the Thames trained in sussing out dodgy shipments deployed an angle grinder to cut two generators - valued at £700,000 – into pieces, despite the risk of being hit with a huge compensation bill.
But the Daily Mail says their gamble paid off when they uncovered an elaborate ruse by traffickers.
A Home Office spokesman said the Border Force officers “acted on strong intelligence to strike a significant blow against the criminal networks”, adding: “The seizure shows how organised crime groups are using ever-more sophisticated methods to evade detection.
“Smugglers would have known Border Force faced paying out hundreds of thousands of pounds had they damaged the combined 40 tonnes of equipment without detecting anything.”
Home Office minister Mike Tapp said: “Vile drug smugglers thought the threat of a huge damages bill would scare Border Force off intercepting this deadly cocaine haul.
“Our first-class officers were one step ahead, using their experience and nous to cost criminal gangs £72million.”
The National Crime Agency launched an investigation after the discovery and a suspect has since been charged, a Home Office source said.
Regional director Phillip Holiday added: “Border Force officers identified a number of anomalies with the generators, which put in to question their legitimacy and suggested they had been tampered with.
“Due to officers’ expert skills, specialist advice and supportive intelligence we felt confident that the generators would contain cocaine.
“This shows how sophisticated criminal gangs have become, but experienced officers can see through these tactics as they continue to secure our borders and keep our streets safe.”
The UK’s cocaine epidemic has seen it become the second most-used drug after cannabis over the past decade.
Drug shipments have previously been discovered in solar water heaters from Mexico and inside crane equipment.
