"Record-breaking Cocaine Seizure: Dutch Customs Confiscate $660 Million Worth of Drugs"

Dutch customs authorities have made the largest cocaine seizure in the history of the Netherlands, confiscating over 17,600 pounds of cocaine with an estimated street value of $662 million. The drugs were discovered hidden in a container of bananas from Ecuador. The expansion of the cocaine market in Europe has led to a rise in violence and corruption, with Rotterdam and the Belgian port of Antwerp becoming the main gateways for Latin American cocaine into the continent. The flourishing drug trade has resulted in increased homicides and intimidation, with recent victims including a lawyer and a crime reporter in the Netherlands. In Ecuador, drug traffickers have sparked a wave of violence as rival gangs compete for control.