Officers from the Polish Border Guard and other law-enforcement agencies seized half a tonne of cocaine worth PLN 180 million (EUR 40mln) in the port of Gdynia, the interior minister has said.
The drugs were hidden inside two shipping containers with a cargo of tropical wood floorboards which arrived from South America.
Mariusz Kaminski, the Polish interior minister, wrote on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday: “Successful action of Polish services against drug smugglers! Officers of the Maritime Branch @Straz_Graniczna, in cooperation with #CBSP and #KAS, intercepted 440 kg of cocaine from South America worth about PLN 180 million.”
The seizure was part of an investigation initiated by the Pomeranian Prosecutor’s Office in which Polish law-enforcement agencies have cooperated with their peers in South America.
Officers identified a suspicious cargo, which was loaded in Bolivia and sailed from a port in Chile to the port of Gdynia,” the Border Guard said.
According to Arkadiusz Olejnik from the Border Guard, the drugs “are of exceptionally high quality – almost 100-percent pure cocaine without any additives.”
A 46-years old resident of the central province of Mazowieckie has been arrested and charged with participation in an organised crime group and drug smuggling. Further arrests are planned.
According to PAP information, the cargo reached Gdynia about two months ago, but it has not been reported until now for the sake of the investigation.
