Cannabis seized at Port of Harwich
Border Force officers seize cannabis worth more than £1.7m at Port of Harwich.
Cannabis
Cannabis with an estimated street value of more than £1.7m has been seized by Border Force at the Port of Harwich.
Officers discovered approximately 430kg of the Class B drug shortly after 5.30am on Thursday (4 April). The cannabis was found in the trailer of a lorry which had arrived at the port on a ferry from the Hook of Holland.
Two Dutch men, aged 72 and 48, were arrested on suspicion of illegally importing a Class B drug. They have been bailed until 13 May while investigations continue.
Charlotte Mann, from Border Force, said:
By thwarting this smuggling attempt we have stopped a sizeable amount of cannabis making it onto the streets of Britain.
Seizures like this demonstrate how Border Force officers are at the forefront of the fight to keep illegal drugs and other banned substances out of the UK.
Drug trafficking is a serious offence and those convicted face long prison sentences.
Border Force officers use hi-tech search equipment to combat immigration crime and detect banned and restricted goods that smugglers attempt to bring into the country.
They use an array of search techniques including sniffer dogs, carbon dioxide detectors, heartbeat monitors and scanners - as well as visual searches - to find well-hidden stowaways, illegal drugs, firearms and cigarettes which would otherwise end up causing harm to local people, businesses and communities.
Anyone with information about suspected smuggling should contact our hotline on 0800 59 5000.