Border Force officers dismantle elaborate drug smuggling operation and recover £72MILLION worth of cocaine

Border Force could have racked up a huge bill had they damaged the equipment - valued at £720,000 - without detecting anything.

But the risk paid off when the drug haul was discovered at London Gateway port in Essex earlier this year.

The drugs came from an unknown location in South America.

"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," the Home Office said.

"Despite these increasingly common tactics, experienced officers acted on strong intelligence to strike a significant blow against the criminal networks."

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.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• Fire breaks out at Stansted Airport with passengers forced to evacuate and flights delayed
• 'Secure your borders to save your women and children,' top White House official urges Britain
• Armed police rush to centre of Oslo following explosion as force warns 'there could be more'

"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 into the case, and a suspect has since been charged, the Home Office confirmed.

In a separate discovery, a shipment of highly valuable solar water heaters weighing over a tonne arrived in Britain from Mexico.

Upon inspection, officers seized over 100kg of methamphetamine with a street value of £8million.

In another seizure, 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth £100million was found in a vessel travelling from South America.

The Home Office said this was the sixth-largest detection on record.

EU law enforcement agency Europol warned last week that cocaine production in Latin America had reached "unprecedented levels".

It added that wholesale prices in Europe had dropped and are currently at the "lowest level ever".

"Cocaine shipments entering the EU are now concealed in highly sophisticated ways, including chemical modifications or incorporation into carrier materials, making detection at ports extremely difficult," Europol stated.

Figures show that cocaine-related deaths in England and Wales rose by 31 per cent between 2022 and 2023.