Third man charged in £75m seizure of cocaine following court appearance of Black Country suspect
A third man has been charged after almost a ton of cocaine was seized following a National Crime Agency investigation following court appearance of a man from Smethwick.
The Class A drugs were seized at Southampton Docks after the container they were in had sailed from Nicaragua via Panama to the UK.
Acting in partnership with the NCA, Border Force officers opened the container and found 943kg of cocaine with a street value of around £75m among pallets of bananas.
Earlier this week, two men were charged with importing Class A drugs.
Daniel Dumitru, 37, of Reginald Road, Smethwick, and Andrew Smyth, 46, of West Park Gardens, Prenton, Merseyside, were appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court on Thursday (March 26). They are scheduled to appear again on April 17.
Now, a third man has been charged following the NCA investigation. Joshua Berry, 28, of Bransgore, Hampshire, appeared at Southampton Magistrates’ Court today (March 28).
NCA Branch Commander Saju Sasikumar said: “This is a massive amount of cocaine which was destined for the streets of the UK.
“The supply of Class A drugs badly damages society by bringing violence and addiction to our communities.
“Seizing these drugs deprives the crime group behind the importation of huge profits that cannot be ploughed back into further offending.”