Authorities in the United Kingdom have charged three men after seizing nearly 1 ton of cocaine worth about £75 million hidden in a shipment of bananas at Southampton Docks. The drugs arrived from Panama, originally from Nicaragua. The suspects face potential life sentences if convicted.
Joshua Berry, 28, Daniel Dumitru, 37, and Andrew Smyth, 46, were arrested in Southampton, England, as part of a National Crime Agency investigation. Dumitru and Smyth were charged almost two weeks ago, while Berry faced charges and his first court hearing on Friday. All three are next due in court on April 17, according to the agency. Officers discovered more than 2,000 pounds of the drug inside a container of bananas at the port earlier this month. The cocaine's street value is estimated at 75 million British pounds, or roughly $98.9 million. The shipment originated in Nicaragua before reaching Panama en route to the UK. National Crime Agency branch commander Saju Sasikumar stated: > This is a massive amount of cocaine which was destined for the streets of the UK. Seizing these drugs deprives the crime group behind the importation of huge profits that cannot be ploughed back into further offending. Concealing cocaine in banana shipments is a recurring tactic, with similar seizures reported recently in Russia, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Greece, and Bulgaria. In February 2024, UK authorities seized over 12,500 pounds of cocaine from bananas at the same Southampton Docks—the country's largest single hard drug haul at the time. The charged men could face life imprisonment under UK sentencing guidelines.