Customs discovers two containers carrying 51.6kg of cocaine

Just a week after the €32.4 million cocaine haul, Customs officials have found 51.6kg of cocaine hidden in reefer containers at the Malta Freeport Terminal.

In a statement, the Customs Officials said they valued this haul at €5.8 million.

During routine screening of containers arriving to and transitting through Malta, seven containers with a high risk route were selected for scanning by the Container Monitoring Unit. Following preliminary scans, two reefer container had irregularities which pointed to possible narcotics hidden in the reefers, and subsequent physical searches confirmed this.

The first reefer container was found to be carrying 20 packets of cocaine, weighing 24kgs and worth approximately €2.7 million euro; and the second reefer container was found to be carrying 23 packets of cocaine, weighing 27.6kgs and worth €3.1 million.

In both cases the narcotics were found hidden behind the reefer’s compressor panelling.

Both reefer containers were carrying fruit and transited through Malta from South America en-route to Albania.

The case was handed over to the Police Anti Drug Squad, who are conducting the investigations. The duty magistrate is leading the inquiry assisted by a team of experts from the Police Forensics Unit.