Channel Tunnel: Huge cocaine haul found hidden in lorry carrying onion rings

A lorry load of frozen onion rings was stashed with cocaine with the street value of £33 million
By The Newsroom
14th Nov 2021, 2:16pm
The lorry was stopped by authorities as it headed for Folkestone, Kent, through the Channel Tunnel (image: Google)The lorry was stopped by authorities as it headed for Folkestone, Kent, through the Channel Tunnel (image: Google)
The lorry was stopped by authorities as it headed for Folkestone, Kent, through the Channel Tunnel (image: Google)

A huge haul of cocaine worth £33 million was found in a shipment of onion rings about to enter the UK.

The illicit cargo weighing 418 kilos was discovered on Thursday evening by Border Force officers when they stopped a lorry at the UK inbound zone in Coquelles, France.

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Piotr Perzenowski, 30, of Mazowieckie, Poland has now been charged with smuggling Class A drugs.

He appeared at Folkestone Magistrates’ Court on Saturday morning and was remanded to appear at Canterbury Crown Court on December 13.

National Crime Agency branch commander Mark Howes said: “This was a really significant amount of drugs taken out of circulation.

“The seizure will deprive the organised crime group responsible for them of profit which would have fuelled more offending.

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“Working with our partners such as Border Force we will continue to fight the Class A drugs threat in our mission to protect the public.”

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