Already over 460 kilos of coke found in port of Rotterdam since early 2025
Between bananas, groupage shipments and cooling engines
Customs has been busy in the port of Rotterdam in the first days of 2025. In total, some 460 kilos of cocaine and an unknown quantity of cocaine dissolved in sugar syrup were intercepted. It was worth almost €12 million.

So reports the Public Prosecutor's Office (OM). The first find dates from 2 January, where a container of bananas from Costa Rica was checked. Fifty packs of coke were discovered in the refrigerated section. After the container was emptied, a 20-year-old Amsterdam man tried to open the container a few days later at a site with empty containers. He was caught red-handed and is still in custody, the prosecution said.
Busy day for customs
The same day, customs found liquid cocaine dissolved in 550 kilos of sugar syrup from the Dominican Republic. The total amount of cocaine is unknown. After investigation, the cargo was found to be destined for a company in Rotterdam. Furthermore, on 2 January, over eighty kilos of cocaine was found in a container from Suriname, hidden among household goods and food in a groupage shipment. After further investigation, a reefer container was found with another five packages of cocaine hidden in the reefer motor. It is suspected that this was part of a larger shipment.
On 3 and 4 January, customs was not idle either: 47 and 41 packages of cocaine were discovered respectively, both times also hidden in the refrigerated section of containers. Two days later, 130 packages of cocaine were found in the hold of a ship from Colombia. The ship was berthed in the Botlek.
Antwerp
The HARC team, a partnership of Customs, FIOD, Seaport Police and the prosecution, is investigating the cases. All the drugs have since been destroyed, the prosecutor said.
Fewer drugs were intercepted in Antwerp in 2024, Belgian Customs reported on 9 January. This was said to be due to a more proactive approach in Latin America, where more drugs were seized.