The Border Force has confiscated 12 tonnes of cannabis valued at approximately £139 million in what is believed to be the agency's largest ever seizure of the drug.
Almost 12 tonnes of cannabis were seized by Border Force at Southampton Port. Roughly 1,200 boxes of cannabis were discovered packed into two shipping containers that had travelled from Canada, the Home Office announced.
Home Office intelligence experts collaborated with Canadian authorities and UK law enforcement to pinpoint the two containers en route to Southampton. The shipment was intercepted on May 6, and the narcotics seized represent the largest ever Border Force cannabis bust, at four tonnes greater than the previous record seizure in 2017.
Record-Breaking Haul
Migration minister Mike Tapp stated: "Congratulations to our brilliant Border Force officers for this record-breaking haul. We will not allow criminal gangs to profit from misery and peddle their vile trade. More than ever before, we are working with policing and international partners to secure our borders and keep our streets safe."
The Home Office revealed the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit detained three individuals on suspicion of facilitating importations on Tuesday.
Related Arrests
Meanwhile, a TikTok influencer who claims she got rich from selling adult content despite only having 24 subscribers has been arrested on allegations she dealt drugs at nightclubs to make a living. Macarena Distefano, 30, was detained in the western suburbs of Buenos Aires, Argentina, after a long-running investigation by federal authorities. The social media personality had built up thousands of followers on TikTok and Instagram, where she showed off holidays, designer goods, jet skis, new cars and trips abroad.
But investigators say her public lifestyle which she claimed was funded by adult content did not match her official income records. Distefano has been accused of being part of a drug-dealing network which allegedly distributed narcotics in nightclubs in the west of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area. The venues reportedly included Pinar de Rocha, a well-known nightclub that has since been shut down.
The investigation began in 2023 and was handled by Federal Court Number 2 in Moron, under Judge Jorge Rodriguez, and the Federal Prosecutor's Office in Hurlingham, led by prosecutor Santiago Marquevich.
Judicial sources have stated Distefano had a registered tax address at a modest home in Villa Maipu, in San Martin, and had never held a formal registered job. She was reportedly registered as self-employed for only six months and had no recorded credit card spending that would explain her expenses.
