Officers from the Financial Administration department at the Nitra Customs Office have confiscated 1.5 tons of meth from Mexico worth at least €300 million. The drugs were hidden in two metal tanks used for liquids. The goal was to clear the shipment in Slovakia, from where it could be distributed throughout the European Union. The Slovak Financial Administration office said on Tuesday that this was the largest amount of confiscated drugs in the country’s history.
Slovak customs officers focused on inspecting the two metal tanks, which were transported from Mexico through a port in Croatia for customs clearance in Slovakia. According to the financial administration office, the reason for the inspection was the fact that the consignment traveled along a well-known drug route from Mexico.
“The tanks were ingeniously modified to prevent customs officers from accessing illegally transported goods. It was necessary to place the tank on its side and then we drilled holes that confirmed the presence of the drug,” said Tomáš Prochocký, General Director of the Customs Section of the Financial Administration of the Slovak Republic.
The financial administration’s spokeswoman Ivana Skokanová explained that customs officers used a mobile scanner, a crane to handle oversized cargo, and a trained dog named Hutch when inspecting the tanks. “They found a white crystalline substance at the bottom of the tank. The analysis showed that it was methamphetamine,“ she added.
The Financial administration office further pointed out that in the case of splitting the shipment into single-use drug doses, the value of the seized drug would be up to two billion euros. The case was handed over to the police. It is not yet known whether the investigator has accused anyone specific of being behind the shipment.
Title image: A customs officer opens a container in search of drugs. (AP Photo/HO Photo by Slovakia’s Custom Office)
