Police seize 800 kilos of cocaine in Den Helder

cocaine in vanCustoms officials in Den Helder last week seized nearly 800 kilos of cocaine from a silver-coloured van stopped after police became suspicious about the way it was being driven.

The van was spotted by military police officers taking corners slowly and breaking excessively, leading them to stop and breathalyse the driver.

In the back of the van they found a number of large packages wrapped in plastic. The suspect, a 27-year-old man from Amsterdam, said they contained compressed ships waste. Customs officials were brought in and found the bales contained cocaine with a street value of €28m. Some was hidden in a black sports bag.

The man has been remanded in custody for 14 days pending further investigation.

The find was made on Tuesday. That same evening a boat in Den Helder port fished a black sports bag out of the water which was found to contain cocaine. Police are investigating if the two instances are connected.

Den Helder, in the north of Noord-Holland province, is a major naval base.

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