The Seaport Police found several packages containing a total of 980 kilos of cocaine on Sunday morning near the sea dike near Rilland (Zeeland). According to the authorities, the street value of the lot is around 73.5 million euros.
Western Scheldt
On Saturday night, a report came in that a small boat was sailing dangerously close to a seagoing vessel. Customs saw the suspected boat sailing in the vicinity of the hamlet of Paal and subsequently started action. The boat then sailed further up the Western Scheldt and disappeared from sight.
Quest
The water police of the National Unit conducted surveillance on the Western Scheldt on Sunday and found a boat on the mudflat near the Verdronken Land van Saeftinghe nature reserve. Because no persons were found on board, the Coast Guard used a patrol aircraft to search for possible drowning persons. The search turned up nothing.
Sea wall
Just before noon, several packages containing a total of 980 kilos of cocaine were found near the sea wall near Rilland. The cocaine has now been removed and destroyed. The Seaport Police is conducting further investigations and is looking for witnesses who have seen (suspicious) things in the Paal area, on the Western Scheldt or in the Rilland area.
The action by the Seaport Police took place in collaboration with officers from the basic teams, the water police, Customs and the Royal Military Police.
