DRUGS worth £1.6 million have been seized by customs officers at Dover – the second major seizure in less than a week.

Thirty kilos of cocaine was found in a ship discharging a cargo of bananas at Dover Cargo Port.

Officers boarded the mv Horncliff after it arrived at the port from Columbia, via Costa Rica. A search of the ship revealed the cocaine in three plastic bags in one of the holds.

Graham Hooker, head of detection for customs at Dover, said: “This was another excellent detection by one of the Customs teams working at Dover – the second in a week.

"It demonstrates the effectiveness of our flexible and mobile way of working in combatting the serious drugs threat at this port and underlines our commitment to reduce the availability of Class A drugs in the UK.”

The crew of the Liberian-registered ship were questioned and later released and the ship was allowed to continue on its journey to Antwerp and Hamburg. No arrests have been made, but customs enquiries are continuing.

On Monday last week, about 120 kilos of cocaine, worth £7.2 million, were found in a lorry that had arrived at Dover off a ferry from Dunkerque.