Live
Audio Only
Paraguay seized more than 3,400 kilos of cocaine outside the capital city of Asuncion as it was being loaded into an international shipment of sugar, police announced on Wednesday, stating it is the country's biggest-ever drug bust.
National Police Commander Luis Arias said to reporters that the illegal drug, produced with coca leaves grown in South America's Andean region, was found in a warehouse in the suburb of Asuncion, Fernando de la Mora. It was being prepared to be shipped out disguised in a load of organic sugar, he announced.
RELATED:
"We are talking about more than 3,400 kilos of cocaine," Arias said. "This was the culmination of an investigation by the anti-narcotics police, working with prosecutors, that took almost a month."
"The merchandise was in a container to be transferred to a safe port for export abroad; we do not know where," he added. "The warehouse was being rented and listed as a sugar deposit."
A sweet bust for Paraguay: record cocaine stash found in a shipment of sugar https://t.co/ftijOb5IrO pic.twitter.com/f3LJHBwzuo
— Reuters (@Reuters) July 28, 2021
The bust exceeded the previous record in Paraguay when 2,900 kilograms of cocaine were seized in October 2020 in the private port of Villeta, just 40 kilometers from Asuncion. In that case, the cargo was being hidden in bags of charcoal.
Paraguay is one of the main producers of marijuana in the region. It is considered a transit country for cocaine produced in various Andean countries for European and other markets.
Newsletter
