Uruguay has reportedly seized a record haul of 6 tonnes of cocaine on Christmas Day, a record said to be the biggest setback for traffickers in its country’s history.
Hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the capital of Togo, custom officers seized 4.4 tonnes of the drug within Montevideo Port before another 1.5 tonnes was later found on a ranch.
Suspicions were raised due to the pure amount of soya being transported to Africa, particularly when soya is not widely consumed on the continent.
The drugs have an estimated street total of £1 billion.
Often used as a transit point to move drugs from Latin America to Africa and Europe, Uruguay is vastly becoming used for these illegal purposes at an increased rate.
The ministry posted a photograph of the drugs on twitter, just another incident to add to the countries year of major drug seizures.
“The important thing is to show the world and drug traffickers that you don’t mess around with Uruguayan customs,” says the Uruguay Customs director James Borgiani, “We’ve taken the necessary steps to rid the country of this scourge.”
For more news, read about a similar discovery in Germany here on GRM Daily.