Almost £39m worth of heroin found in pomegranate juice bottles
Police discovered the massive haul at Southampton Port
Investigators have foiled a plot to smuggle heroin with a street value of £38.8 million into the UK through Southampton Port - in bottles of pomegranate juice.
A consignment of the Class A drug weighing 388 kilos was recovered by National Crime Agency and Border Force officers from a shipping container.
Officers arrested three suspects on Tuesday (May 23rd) as they began to unload the container which contained 2.6 tonnes of pomegranate juice at an industrial premises in north east Birmingham.
The bottles of purple juice turned red if they contained heroin.
A fourth man was arrested at a residential address in Alum Rock, Birmingham.
The four suspects were released on bail.
Derek Evans, NCA branch commander, said:
"The Class A drug trade is a scourge to society and this seizure goes a significant way to helping to protect the public.
"Drugs are inextricably linked with organised crime groups and the use of serious violence which can often spill over wrecking the lives of innocent victims and their families.
"The NCA works at home and abroad to do everything it can to stop heroin coming into the UK and damaging our communities."