URUGUAY – Authorities here said they seized a record haul of around six tons of cocaine, calling it the biggest setback for traffickers in the country’s history.
Naval and customs officers seized about 4.4 tons of the drug in Montevideo port. It had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the capital of Togo.
Another 1.5 tons was later found on a ranch, local reports said. The drugs have an estimated total street value of around $1.3bn (£1bn).
The ranch’s owner and his son were arrested along with two workers.
Uruguay is increasingly being used as a transit point to move drugs from Latin America to Africa and Europe.
The country’s previous record haul was in November, when authorities uncovered a container with three tons of cocaine also in Montevideo.(BBC)
