In Uruguay, more than three tonnes of cocaine have been discovered in a container that should be shipped to Africa. The drugs with a street value of more than $ 740 million (about 670 million euros) were on the way from Paraguay to the West African port Cotonou in Benin, as the Uruguayan Customs Office announced. The 101 packets of cocaine were hidden in a rice load.
The controls in Uruguay have been tightened after more than four tons of cocaine were detected in a container shipped in Montevideo in Hamburg in August. In this context, a businessman in Uruguay was arrested for drug trafficking aid.
In addition, the Uruguayan Customs Service received a new boss. In the port of Montevideo, a new container scanner was purchased, as the television channel Canal 10 reported.
Drugs from South America usually come to Africa or Europe via ship routes and are often hidden in food cargoes. Only a week ago investigators had seized a large amount of cocaine with the aim of Germany in Italy. Nearly 1,200 kilograms worth more than € 250 million have been discovered at the port of Gioia Tauro in the southern Italian region of Calabria.
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According to a UN drug report referring to 2017, 271 million people worldwide use drugs such as cannabis, cocaine, opium or synthetic substances. Compared to 2009, the number of consumers has increased by 30 percent.