Man charged after seizure of £75m worth of cocaine
A third man has been charged as part of a National Crime Agency (NCA) investigation into a large seizure of cocaine worth £75m.
Joshua Berry, 28, of Bransgore, in the New Forest, appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Saturday after class A drugs were seized at Southampton Docks. The container they were in had sailed from Nicaragua via Panama to the UK.
NCA officers along with Border Force opened the container and found 943kg of cocaine with a street value of around £75m among pallets of bananas.
Two other men were charged on 18 March in relation to the same seizure. Daniel Dumitru, 37, of Reginald Road, Smethwick, West Mids, and Andrew Smyth, 46, of West Park Gardens, Prenton, Merseyside, have also been charged.
NCA Branch Commander Saju Sasikumar said: “This is a massive amount of cocaine which was destined for the streets of the UK. The supply of Class A drugs badly damages society by bringing violence and addiction to our communities.
“Seizing these drugs deprives the crime group behind the importation of huge profits that cannot be ploughed back into further offending.”