Police seize 1.3 tons of cocaine hidden in frozen fish

Police have seized over 1.3 tons of cocaine hidden inside frozen fish due to be distributed across Europe, detaining seven men of different nationalities as part of a sting known as Operation Squid’.

The haul, from Ecuador, was unloaded at the Lisbon port, police said, adding its officers carried out several searches as part of Operation Squid and seized eight firearms, high-end vehicles, as well as various documents and objects.

The drugs, which were found in a warehouse in the western region of Portugal, were hidden inside frozen fish, which was wrapped in plastic and packed in cardboard boxes.

“The way in which the drug was hidden in the frozen fish made it extremely difficult to detect it and, in order to remove it, the fish had to be completely destroyed,” Portugal’s Judiciary Police said in a statement.

Those detained, aged between 26 and 59, are suspected of being part of an organised criminal group, which imported large quantities of cocaine from Latin America and distributed it across several European nations. The police did not disclose the nationalities of the detainees.

They will appear before a judge as the investigation continues.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime said in its annual World Drug Report last year that cocaine demand and supply were increasing across the world.

Last month it was revealed the largest-ever haul of class A drugs were seized at a port in the UK – hidden in a bunch of bananas.

The drugs, found at Southampton Port, are worth an estimated £450 million.

The previous largest UK seizure was 3.7 tonnes of cocaine, also found at Southampton, in 2022, and 3.2 tonnes were found on board the tug boat MV Hamal in Scotland in 2015.

The National Crime Agency (NCA) and Border Force seized 5.7 tonnes of cocaine found in a container carrying the fruit from South America on February 8.

The NCA has said the illicit drugs were heading to the Port of Hamburg in Germany for onward delivery.

The NCA spokesman explained that the MV Hamal haul was estimated at a value of £512 million because of a difference in cocaine prices experienced in Scotland at that time.