Cocaine worth $15 million found by divers at the bottom of the Baltic Sea

Divers in Poland found greater than 220 kilos of cocaine on the underside of the Baltic Sea, the nation’s border guard stated on Tuesday, marking the most recent uncommon location that medication have been present in Europe.

Officers with the Border Guard Maritime Unit positioned the cocaine on the seabed within the Gulf of Gdansk in northern Poland, officers stated in a news release.  Seven individuals have been detained and the border guard stated it had “dismantled an organized crime group concerned in smuggling important quantities of medicine.”

Authorities launched a number of images of the operation and stated the seized medication had an estimated avenue worth of $15 million. A video launched by the border guard exhibits divers finding the alleged medication on the seabed as properly footage of armed officers making a number of arrests at varied places.

After the medication have been seized from the Baltic Sea, officers stated they have been finally capable of monitor down the suspects, which led to the invention of one other giant amount of medicine. The seven individuals detained withstand 20 years in jail if convicted, authorities stated.

The invention stemmed from a joint operation by the Polish border guard, Europol and the DEA to guard vital underwater infrastructure within the area, authorities stated. In December, NATO introduced that it will enhance patrols within the Baltic Sea after a number of reported incidents of underwater sabotage.

Cocaine is routinely seized at sea, however often from drug trafficking vessels like “narco subs” within the Pacific and Caribbean.

The operation in Poland marks the most recent incident of European authorities discovering cocaine in uncommon locations in current months. Simply final week, authorities in Luxembourg seized nearly a ton of cocaine hidden in a stone crusher. In December, authorities in Spain launched video displaying the invention of seven tons of cocaine buried underneath a farm. A couple of weeks earlier than that, police in Spain seized a file haul of cocaine that was hid in a shipment of bananas from Ecuador.

Throughout the globe, would-be drug smugglers have hidden cocaine in all the pieces from car mufflers and surfboards to sugar and jalapeno peppers.

Cocaine has been discovered within the ocean and alongside coastlines many occasions earlier than — particularly in Florida. Final August, Hurricane Debby blew 25 packages of cocaine onto a seashore within the Florida Keys.  A couple of weeks later, 16 bricks of suspected cocaine was found by tourists on a beach in the identical area.

In June 2024, boaters off the coast of Florida found 65 pounds of cocaine floating within the ocean, and earlier that month, divers found 25 kilograms of cocaine about 100 ft underwater off Key West.