Half a tonne of cocaine seized at Swiss Nespresso factory

The shipping containers containing cocaine came from Brazil. Keystone

Swiss police have seized more than 500kg of cocaine concealed in a container shipped from Brazil to the Nespresso factory in the town of Romont in western Switzerland.

The drugs were discovered by workers unloading bags of coffee beans on May 2 and the police were informed immediately. A subsequent search of five shipping containers turned up more than 500kg of cocaine, according to a police statement on May 5. The street value of the drugs, whose purity was over 80%, is estimated at over CHF50 million ($50.7 million).

Preliminary investigations show that containers loaded with bags of coffee arrived by sea from Brazil before being transferred onto a train, the authorities said on May 5. The investigators believe that the drug was destined for the European market. The batches were isolated and the substance did not come into contact with any of the products used in production.

Regional police in Fribourg said that after they were alerted they immediately set up a “broad security perimeter” around the factory with a large deployment of officers. Around 20 customs and border control agents were called in. The Office of the Attorney General of canton Fribourg where the factory is located has opened an investigation. 

It represents the second biggest cocaine haul in Swiss history. The biggest seizure was recorded in 2019 when the police at EuroAirport Basel Mulhouse Freiburg seized 603 kg of cocaine hidden in suitcases in a private jet that had arrived from Uruguay via Nice.

Cocaine availability – “all-time high” in Europe

On May 6, the European Union’s law enforcement agency Europol and the European Monitoring Center for Drugs and Drug Addiction reported that cocaine availability in Europe “is probably at an all-time high.”

The monitoring centre said it estimates the EU cocaine retail market was worth at least €10.5 billion ($11.1 billion) in 2020, while cautioning that the figure was likely to underestimate the true size of the market.

It said the largest quantities of cocaine are seized in Belgian, Dutch and Spanish ports, but increasing amounts are turning up at ports elsewhere “suggesting that trafficking groups are extending their activities to ports where cocaine interdiction measures may be perceived as less intensive.”

Residents in the Swiss cities of St Gallen, Zurich, Geneva and Basel hold four of the top tenExternal link slots for European consumption of cocaine, according to wastewater analyses carried out in 2021. Switzerland’s low regulation and high purchasing power offer ideal conditions for buying or consuming drugs, according to the national research centre Addiction SwitzerlandExternal link.