BERLIN, May 15 (Xinhua) -- The German customs authority said on Friday it had seized "record quantities" of drugs originating in non-European Union (EU) countries in 2019.
Cocaine seizures at German ports increased to 10 tons, it said.
During more than 250 million customs clearances of goods worth more than one trillion euros (1.08 trillion U.S. dollars), German customs officials also seized 938 kilograms of heroin, almost five times as much as in the previous year.
Most of the heroin seized was found in a single incident when German customs investigators detected 670 kilograms of heroin in a truck. Hidden below packages of honey, they found 532 boxes filled with the drug.
Ecstasy seizures almost tripled to over 1.6 million pills compared with the previous year, according to the customs authority's annual report.
With more than 141 billion euros, German customs generated almost 45 percent of the country's entire federal tax revenues in 2019.
The financial results of the past year are reassuring, said Colette Hercher, president of the German Directorate General of Customs. "But now, in the crisis, we need to look ahead and do everything necessary for the functioning of our community." Enditem
