{"id":30902,"date":"2026-06-20T11:10:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:10:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/?p=30902"},"modified":"2026-06-20T11:10:00","modified_gmt":"2026-06-20T15:10:00","slug":"three-arrested-after-record-breaking-12-tonne-cannabis-haul-seized","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/2026\/06\/20\/three-arrested-after-record-breaking-12-tonne-cannabis-haul-seized\/","title":{"rendered":"Three arrested after record-breaking 12-tonne cannabis haul seized"},"content":{"rendered":"

Border Force officers have seized a record 12-tonne shipment of cannabis worth \u00a3139m.<\/p>\n

The illegal haul of\u00a0drugs<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0was found in two shipping containers at\u00a0Southampton<\/a><\/strong>‘s port and had come from\u00a0Canada<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Officers found 1,200 boxes of cannabis inside them on May 6, making it the force’s largest-ever cannabis seizure.<\/p>\n

Three people were arrested on Tuesday by the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit on suspicion of facilitating importations.<\/p>\n

The containers were identified before their arrival in the UK, according to Border Force, who had been working with their Canadian counterparts.<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"A<\/div>
Image:<\/span>A record-breaking 12-tonne haul of cannabis was seized on May 6. Handout pic: Home Office<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

The previous largest cannabis seizure was a 2017 haul of just under eight tonnes at Southampton Port.<\/p>\n

Border Force director general Phil Douglas said: “This biggest cannabis seizure ever shows Border Force’s relentless action to stop drugs reaching UK streets and destroying lives.<\/p>\n

“My thanks to our officers, the South West Regional Organised Crime Unit, and the Canada Border Services Agency for their dedication, collaboration, and professionalism.”<\/p>\n

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) also prevented a shipping container with cannabis destined for the UK leaving the country in April.<\/p>\n

CBSA president Erin O’Gorman said: “These seizures reflect the strength of the combined operational focus and intelligence-sharing efforts between Canadian federal law enforcement and our UK Border Force partners.<\/p>\n

“It is the result of a highly co-ordinated, intelligence-led approach to disrupting transnational organized crime.<\/p>\n

“The movement of illegal cannabis fuels organized crime networks, and this seizure underscores our collective commitment to combat these criminal activities and keep our borders strong and secure.”<\/p>\n

Minister for migration and citizenship Mike Tapp said: “We will not allow criminal gangs to profit from misery and peddle their vile trade.”<\/p>\n

Border Force reported seizures of illegal drugs totalling 148 tonnes in the year ending March 2025.<\/p>\n

Source: \u00a0\"Sky<\/a> news.sky.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Border Force officers have seized a record 12-tonne shipment of cannabis worth \u00a3139m. The illegal haul of\u00a0drugs\u00a0was found in two shipping containers at\u00a0Southampton‘s port and had come from\u00a0Canada. Officers found 1,200 boxes of cannabis inside […]<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30903,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[5,2,4],"tags":[45,12625,2384,5967,12624,4911,12623,3785],"class_list":["post-30902","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","category-news","category-uk","tag-canada","tag-canada-border-services-agency","tag-cannabis","tag-drugs-trade","tag-south-west-regional-organised-crime-unit","tag-southampton","tag-southampton-port","tag-uk-border-force","pmpro-has-access"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30902"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30904,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30902\/revisions\/30904"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/worldjusticenews.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}