2026年3月30日 / 美国东部时间下午1:36 / 哥伦比亚广播公司新闻
作者：艾米莉·梅·查霍尔
当局表示，英国有三人被控试图在一箱香蕉中贩运价值近1亿美元的可卡因，这是此类违禁毒品被藏在这种热带水果货运中走私的最新案例。
据英国国家犯罪署消息，28岁的约书亚·贝里、37岁的丹尼尔·杜米特鲁和46岁的安德鲁·史密斯均在英格兰南安普顿被捕，他们下次出庭时间定在4月17日。
该机构称，贝里是三人中最后一个被起诉的，已于周五出席了首次庭审。杜米特鲁和史密斯则在约两周前被拘留并起诉。
此次逮捕是该犯罪署对本月早些时候在南安普顿码头查获的大宗可卡因缉获案调查的一部分。边境署官员在一个从巴拿马抵达南安普顿港的装满香蕉的集装箱内查获了超过2000磅——约1吨——可卡因，不过当局表示这批货物最初是从尼加拉瓜启航的。这批毒品的街头价值约为7500万英镑，或近9890万美元。
英国当局本月早些时候在英格兰南安普顿的一个港口查获了超过2000磅，即1美吨的可卡因。英国国家犯罪署 供图
根据英国量刑指南，这三名被指控的男子如果罪名成立，最高可被判处终身监禁。
“这是数量巨大的可卡因，原本计划流向英国街头，”国家犯罪署分局局长萨朱·萨西库马尔在一份声明中说道。“查获这批毒品，剥夺了背后的犯罪集团巨额利润，使其无法将这些资金重新投入进一步的犯罪活动。”
将可卡因藏在香蕉货运中并非罕见手段。近几个月来，全球各地当局都表示已从香蕉货运中查获此类毒品，除英国外，还包括俄罗斯、挪威、多米尼加共和国、希腊和保加利亚。
2024年2月，英国当局表示他们在南安普顿码头的一批香蕉货运中查获了超过12500磅可卡因，这也是当时英国有记录以来最大规模的单一硬毒品缉获案。
3 arrested in U.K. after nearly $100 million worth of cocaine found hidden in bananas
March 30, 2026 / 1:36 PM EDT / CBS News
By Emily Mae Czachor
Three people have been charged in the United Kingdom,after they allegedly attempted to traffic nearly $100 million worth of cocaine in a container of bananas, authorities said, marking the latest instance of the illicit drug being concealed in a shipment of the tropical fruit.
Joshua Berry, 28, Daniel Dumitru, 37, and Andrew Smyth, 46, were all arrested in Southhampton, England, where they are next scheduled to appear in court on April 17, according to the country’s National Crime Agency.
Berry was the last of the three to face charges in the case and appeared at his first court hearing on Friday, the agency said. Dumitru and Smyth were each taken into custody and charged almost two weeks ago.
Their arrests are part of the crime agency’s investigation into an enormous cocaine haul that was seized at Southhampton Docks earlier this month. Officers with the border agency discovered more than 2,000 pounds — approximately 1 ton — of cocaine inside a shipping container filled with bananas that arrived at the Southhampton port from Panama, although authorities said it originally set sail from Nicaragua. The drugs carried a street value equal to about 75 million British pounds, or roughly $98.9 million.
British authorities seized more than 2,000 pounds, or 1 U.S. ton, of cocaine at a port in Southhampton, England, earlier this month. U.K. National Crime Agency
The three men who have been charged could face maximum penalties of life in prison if they are convicted, according to U.K. sentencing guidelines.
“This is a massive amount of cocaine which was destined for the streets of the UK,” said Saju Sasikumar, a National Crime Agency branch commander, in a statement. “Seizing these drugs deprives the crime group behind the importation of huge profits that cannot be ploughed back into further offending.”
The choice to hide cocaine inside a shipment of bananas is not an unusual one. Authorities around the world have said in recent months that the substance had been seized from shipments of the fruit, including in Russia, Norway, the Dominican Republic, Greece and Bulgaria, in addition to the U.K.
In February 2024, British authorities said they discovered more than 12,500 pounds of cocaine inside a shipment of bananas, which was also seized at Southhampton Docks. At the time, that was the country’s largest single seizure of hard drugs on record.
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