South Korea discovered and took two tons of cocaine Authorities told AFP on Friday a Norwegian flag ship, marking the largest drug bust in the country so far.
The Korea’s Costera Guard said they had found two tons of what they suspect was pure cocaine on a Norwegian flag ship who had splitting Mexico and stopped at Ecuador, Panama and China.
The operation was launched after the southern authorities -Coreanes received intelligence from the North -American Agencies (the FBI and Safety Research of Homeland (HSI)) that the ship carried hidden narcotics.
The Korea’s Costera Guard and the Korea Customs Service coordinated a large -scale search operation « formed by a joint search team of 90 officers … along with two units of dogs falling, » said the Corea Costera Guard.
After the boat was docked on a port on the east coast of South Korea, the team immediately climbed to the boat and « discovered a hidden compartment behind the boat’s engine room. »
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The drugs were packaged in 56 sacks, each with about 30 to 40 kilograms (about 66 to 88 pounds) of the drug, according to the authorities, providing total transport to about two tons.
« Field preliminary tests confirmed the substances as a suspicion of cocaine, » said the AFP’s coastal guard official at the AFP.
« The convulsion is the largest in history, approximately five times larger than the previous record, which was 404 kilograms of methamphetamine, » a Corea Customs Service official told AFP.
The estimated street value is $ 697 million, they added.
Authorities have launched a joint research team to question the captain and crew of the ship about the origin and the intended destination of drugs and the route used to transport them.
Researchers also said that they are looking for possible links with international drug trafficking unions and will expand cooperation with the FBI and HSI.
South Korea has long been among the countries with low drug use worldwide, thanks to their strict laws and strong social stigma.
The operation follows other important cocaine seizures on ships, and the open sea, all over this year. Last week, Portuguese police said that agents recently seized 6.5 tonnes of cocaine from a semi-submersible boat, or the so-called « Narco’s subset », intercepted the azores while obliged to the Iberian Peninsula.
In February, divers in Poland He discovered more than 220 pounds of cocaine at the bottom of the Baltic Sea. That same month, a semi-submersible ship loaded with More than 5,000 pounds of cocaine It was intercepted on the Pacific coast of Colombia.
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