£1bn drugs stopped by Border Force this summer
Border Force officers have seized more than £1 billion worth of cocaine in just three months, marking one of the most successful crackdowns on organised drug trafficking in British history.
Between June and August, 15.6 tonnes of cocaine were intercepted – equivalent to the weight of a London double-decker bus – surpassing the total haul for entire previous years.
The figure already represents more than half of the 26.5 tonnes seized across the whole of 2024 and exceeds the total volume for the 2022-23 financial year.
Smugglers’ new tactics exposed
The majority of the drugs were shipped from South America via commercial vessels, but officers also uncovered increasingly creative smuggling methods.
One passenger attempted to conceal £800,000 worth of cocaine inside a wheel of cheese before being caught.
In one of the largest individual operations, 2.4 tonnes of cocaine worth around £100 million were seized from a vessel docking at London Gateway in June – the sixth-biggest single detection on record.
Home Office Minister Mike Tapp hailed the record-breaking summer as proof of Border Force’s growing capability to disrupt global crime networks.
“Every kilo taken spares countless lives from addiction, prevents hundreds of drug deals and stops communities from descending into violence,” he said.
“The gangs inflicting this misery should know we’re on to you – and we have the intelligence, expertise and determination to destroy your vile trade.”
Global effort against organised crime
The success follows closer intelligence-sharing between Border Force, the National Crime Agency (NCA) and international partners targeting high-harm trafficking groups.
Adam Thompson, the NCA’s head of drugs threat, said: “Without these interventions, these drugs would have spread across the country, driving violence, crime and harm in our communities.”
Plan for safer streets
Cocaine-related deaths in England and Wales rose by 31% between 2022 and 2023, underlining the scale of the threat.
