Police swooped on New Spitalfields Market this morning and came away with a record haul of 500kg of cocaine with a street value estimated at nearly £30 million.
The drugs, the largest amount ever seized in London and the UK's biggest seizure this year, were concealed in a consignment of coconuts imported from Guyana and delivered to New Spitalfields in Leyton, the Customs and Excise department said today.
“Customs have successfully stopped a huge quantity of cocaine being sold on London's streets, the proceeds of which would undoubtedly be used to fund further crime,'' Duncan Stewart, assistant chief investigation officer, said in the statement.
Six men were arrested late yesterday in connection with the seizure, the government department said.
The department had originally said the drugs were found in old Spitalfields Market, which is near London's City financial district.
