LONDON: Heroin worth £2.5 million and more than £500,000 in cash have been seized in a week-long terrorism and organised crime clampdown at British ports and airports.
Eleven people have so far been arrested for drugs and money laundering offences during the operation, which also saw officials seize tens of thousands of litres of beer and wine being illegally smuggled into the UK, officials said.
Police, HM Revenue and Customs, the Border Force and the National Crime Agency (NCA) led a 1,000-strong team targeting the illegal passage of cash, weapons, drugs, goods and people through British ports and airports “linked to criminal or terrorist-related activity”.
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The operation, coordinated by the National Counter Terrorism Policing Headquarters (NCTPHQ) has so far seen almost 1,000 vehicles and more than 300 vessels searched, plus 25 containers and 34 packages across 55 UK ports.
The 50kg of Class A drugs were found hidden in the cab of a lorry at Harwich in Essex, while 60,000 litres of beer and 8,000 litres of wine worth £75,000 in lost duty, were confiscated from three lorries at Dover in Kent, officials said.
Around £535,000 in cash was seized, including £20,000 from seven people stopped at Heathrow, 50,000 euros was taken from a man arriving at St Pancras station in London and a further £35,000 seized in the North West, including at Liverpool’s John Lennon Airport and Manchester Airport.
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Scotland Yard Assistant Commissioner Mark Rowley, the UK’s top counter terrorism police officer, said: “With the increased threat of terrorism, this week of activity has shown that the UK’s law enforcement agencies are working closer than ever to protect the public.
“This work goes on 52 weeks of the year, but as we approach the summer – and what is traditionally the busiest period of the year for our ports – this is a timely reminder of the work that police and others do on a daily basis to protect the public from such threats.”
