Dubrovnik-Neretva County police on Tuesday presented the results of two drugs seizures carried out in cooperation with the customs service in October and November 2021, when on two separate occasions 62 kilos of cocaine and 220 kilos of heroin were seized in the southern port of Ploce. The latter was the largest ever single heroin seizure in Croatia.

In the first seizure, which took place on 11 October, a search of a ship carrying lead sheets from Iraq found 296 packets of heroin weighing 220 kilos. In the second seizure, on 3 November, 54 packets containing 62 kilos of cocaine were found in a device attached to the hull of a ship that had arrived from Columbia carrying bulk coal.

The total value of the drugs was estimated at €17 million, and the drugs were destined for western Europe. The shipments were organized by international criminal organizations.

Speaking of the second seizure, Drazen Rastovic of the National Police Office for the Suppression of Corruption and Organised Crime (PNUSKOK) said that both the captain and the crew of the ship had been interviewed by investigators but there was not enough information for criminal charges.

He said that the ship had continued its voyage to Italy and on to Africa and was currently “in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.”

Dubrovnik-Neretva County police chief Ivan Pavlicevic said that both seizures were the result of excellent cooperation between the police and customs service.

“In the last ten years we have carried out over 9,000 seizures, and record ones were made in the past year. In this way we make both Croatia and the European Union safe,” Pavlicevic said.