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Officers from the National Crime Agency and from Border Force seized more than half a tonne of cocaine at London Gateway port.
The drugs were found in a consignment of bananas that had been shipped by boat to the UK from Colombia, according the NCA on Saturday.
NCA investigators had identified that the consignment was destined for the Netherlands, but it was intercepted on Tuesday 26 July.
The 175 kilos of drugs were hidden in 10 boxes loaded with make-up accessories. Photo: Public Prosecution Service
The haul would have had a UK street level value of more than £40 million once cut and sold.
NCA Branch Operations Manager Adam Berry said: “Taking out a consignment of this size will have been a huge blow to the criminal network involved in this shipment, preventing them from making millions of pounds that would have been invested in further criminality.
“Class A drugs are pedalled by gangs involved in violence and exploitation in our communities.
“The NCA works hard with partners to stop drugs getting that far, and making seizures like this demonstrate how we can break that link between international drug cartels and street-level dealers.
The UK drugs cache comes following a series of major by Dutch officials at their ports highlighting the huge amounts of cocaine being shipped from South America to Europe.
They announced on Friday that customs intercepted 475 kilos of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam in two separate seizures, worth €35 million.
One cache was found in 10 large bundles containing a total of 300 packages of cocaine in a container loaded with waste material from Colombia.
In the other customs officials found 175 kilograms of cocaine in a container loaded with makeup accessories from Panama.
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