Belgian police arrested seven Dutch nationals in the early hours of Sunday in connection with a haul of 1,200 kilos of cocaine, Belgian media reported.

The shipment had been transported via an undisclosed African country to the port of Antwerp and was monitored by police from the moment the drugs were taken to a storage unit in the Zelzate region, close to the Belgian border with Zeeland.

The arrests followed an investigation by the Antwerp police, shipping police and special intervention unit DSU. Three Belgians were also arrested, the youngest just 14.

Criminals often employ teenagers for the retrieval of drugs from containers stored in ports. Some 140 were arrested in the port of Antwerp in the first five months of this year, half of them Dutch, and of whom 20 were underage.

In Belgium, an adult caught removing drugs can expect an average custodial sentence of 40 months.