- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click here to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
(CNN) - Uruguay has seized a record 4.4 tons of cocaine on Friday, calling it "the biggest blow to drug trafficking in the history of our country," the Uruguayan National Navy said Friday in a statement.
The drugs were hidden in four soy containers that were going to Togo, Africa, and were seized in the port of Montevideo.
The National Navy together with the @AduanaURU seized 4 containers with anomalies. Inspected the first, 3089 bricks of cocaine hydrochloride were found.
INFO 👉🏻https: //t.co/RmDaQ7Ffu4
- Armada Uruguay (@Armada_Uruguay) December 27, 2019
Authorities say they have been inspecting containers since Thursday with the help of scanners. They found 3,089 bricks that tested positive for cocaine in only one of the containers.
The cargo exceeds 1,000 million dollars.
National Customs Director Jaime Borgiani said 4,417,720 kilograms of pure cocaine were found and that the operation was carried out between the National Customs Directorate and the Naval National Prefecture.
Borgiani said the drug was loaded in Uruguay.
The Ministry of Interior also reported on social networks that a search had been carried out in a rural establishment where the containers were allegedly loaded with narcotics and that at least two people had been arrested and were testifying at the Prosecutor's Office.
The detainees are the owner of the establishment and their son, and have not been identified.
From Nilly Kohzad and Susanna Capelouto of CNN in Atlanta. With information from Marlon Sorto.
Cocaine Seizure