Colombia seizes 750 kg of cocaine bound for Europe

Bogota, Dec 28 (IANS/EFE) Drug enforcement agents in Colombia’s Pacific port Buenaventura seized some 750 kg of cocaine in separate shipments bound for Belgium and Spain, officials said.

The cocaine was hidden in coffee and polypropylene shipments, the head of the National Police’s drug enforcement unit, Gen. Francisco Patio, told reporters Sunday.

Drug enforcement agents have seized 123.5 tons of cocaine this year, Patio said.

Agents found 425 kg of cocaine Wednesday in a 25-ton shipment of polypropylene bound for Spain, the general said.

The cocaine was mixed with the polypropylene, Patio said, adding that it took his agency’s chemists four days to separate the drug from the thermoplastic polymer, which is used to make packaging materials, textiles and other products.

The smugglers painted the material green, black, yellow, blue and other colours in an effort to throw off police.

Investigators found the cocaine by “tracking a special shipment the smugglers wanted to move using exports of raw materials” from Buenaventura, Patio said.

The second batch of cocaine was found Saturday in a container of coffee bound for Belgium, the official said.

Drug enforcement agents noticed that the container’s seals had been tampered with and inspected it, finding six suitcases packed with 325 kg of cocaine inside, Patio said.

–IANS/EFE