LA VALLETTA (MALTA) (ITALPRESS/MNA) – The Maltese authorities uncovered a record amount of cocaine linked to Colombian drug traffickers. 800 kilos of cocaine with an estimated street value of €108.2 million were found hidden in a 40ft reefer container.
The container was selected by the Customs Container Monitoring Unit following a tip off, and was screened, along several other containers, where some discrepancies were flagged. The cargo with a refrigerated payload of 1,200 boxes of bananas had left the port city of Turbo in Columbia, considered as drug transitting town and was on its way to Mersin, the largest seaport in Turkey situated in the south of the country. Customs officers together with Police Drug Squad officials opened the container and physically inspected all the boxes. A total of 80 packets containing high purity cocaine were found inside 26 boxes. The packets carried a net weight of 1kg each and were concealed within the boxes of fruit. However, the difference in density and consistency was immediately flagged by the scanning officials.
The case was handed over to the Malta Police Drug Force, for further investigation. In 2021, the department had intercepted 740kg of cocaine worth €100 million, also hidden in boxes of banana.
(ITALPRESS).

Source: medNews