A MASSIVE drugs seizure has been made at York's Nestl plant after suspicious staff opened a package from abroad.

They called police and Customs officers after finding 25kg of herbal cannabis with a street value of £75,000.

A Customs official said it was one of the biggest finds they had made in the city.

He said: "The police and Customs attended Nestl in York at the company's request.

"We examined a suspicious package which had been delivered to the company. As a result, a quantity of herbal cannabis has been seized and Customs investigations are continuing."

The package was delivered to the factory by a courier company on Wednesday. It was sent from overseas, although the Customs spokesman declined to say which country. It had been addressed to Nestl.

The spokesman said: "Nobody at Nestl was involved, and the company acted responsibly by calling us in as soon as they found something which should not have been there."

Nestl has been extra vigilant in checking foreign parcels since the September 11 terrorist attacks in New York.

The Customs official said seizures were usually made at ports and airports.

"Compared to finds elsewhere, this isn't that big," he said. "But we do not get a lot of seizures of cannabis in York, so this is significant."

Because the drugs have come from abroad, the investigation is in the hands of Customs rather than police. Nestl staff said it was a mystery why the drugs had been sent to the factory.

"We have no idea why it was sent here," said a spokeswoman. "There is no reason to suggest that this involves any Nestl employees and the package has now been handed over to customs officials."

Nestl staff reacted with shock after hearing about the drugs swoop.

An employee, who would not be named, said: "Nobody has heard a thing about it - it must have been kept very hush-hush.

"We have our own post office section at the site which distributes mail out to the workforce. Whether the package was picked up there I don't know. It's a massive shock."

Updated: 10:12 Saturday, November 17, 2001