Border Force officers have seized nearly £5m worth of cocaine hidden inside a frozen food lorry at Harwich.

On April 30, officers at the port searched the lorry after noticing anomalies in the trailer doors.

Inside the trailer they found 47 wrapped packages hidden inside metal lined containers containing 54kg of cocaine worth £4.86m.

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A British man was arrested and the investigation was handed over to the National Crime Agency (NCA).

Chris Philp, minister for immigration compliance, said: “This was a fantastic bit of work from the team. They have succeeded in taking a large amount of cocaine off our streets, where it can cause significant harm to both individuals and communities.

“Every year Border Force officers seize Class A drugs worth hundreds of millions of pounds. Working with law enforcement colleagues like the National Crime Agency we will do all we can to stop drug traffickers and bring them to justice.”

Jacque Beer, NCA branch commander, said: “This seizure shows that organised criminal networks involved in international drug trafficking continue to pose a threat to the UK, even with the restrictions brought about by the coronavirus pandemic.

“Working with partners like Border Force we will continue to use all the tools at our disposal to disrupt and dismantle crime groups involved in drug distribution.”