The Malta Customs Department intercepted a shipment of 610kgs of cocaine at the Malta Freeport. 

The value of the drug s estimated at more than  €100 million.

During the operation on Sunday, Customs officials stationed at the Freeport Terminal, seized 610 packets of Cocaine weighing 1 kilogram each, and which were concealed within a shipment of bananas, the department said. 

The container was selected by the Customs Monitoring Unit following a meticulous risk assessment on containers transiting through the Malta Freeport. The unit was scanned along with a number of other containers, and Customs officials at the Scanning Facility flagged discrepancies in the image of that particular unit. 

The container departed from Guayaquil in Ecuador and was en-route to Batumi in Georgia.

The Customs Officials, together with members from the Malta Police Drug Squad who were later called on scene, opened the reefer and physically inspecting all boxes. 20 Boxes of Bananas were found to contain 20 packets of cocaine each whilst another 10 Boxes contained 21 packets each. Once the drugs were elevated, the case was handed over to the Malta Police Drug Force for further investigation.

Duty Magistrate Monica Vella is leading the inquiry

In the past 3 years, Malta Customs seized the following amounts of Cocaine:

2019: recording a total of 750kg (in 13 separate seizures),

2020: 612kg (in 1 seizure), 2021:740kg (in 1 seizure) and

2022: 800kg and a record breaking 1494kg, and today’s seizure of 610kg