South Korea found and seized two tons of cocaine hidden aboard a Norwegian-flagged vessel, authorities advised AFP on Friday, marking the nation’s largest drug bust thus far.
The Korea Coast Guard stated they’d discovered two tons of what they think to be pure cocaine on a Norwegian-flagged ship which had departed from Mexico and made stops in Ecuador, Panama and China.
The operation was launched after South Korean authorities obtained intelligence from U.S. businesses — the FBI and Homeland Safety Investigations (HSI) — that the vessel was carrying hidden narcotics.
The Korea Coast Guard and Korea Customs Service coordinated a large-scale search operation “consisting of a joint search workforce of 90 officers… together with two drug-sniffing canine models,” the Korea Coast Guard stated.
After the vessel docked at an east coast port in South Korea, the workforce instantly boarded the vessel and “found a hidden compartment behind the ship’s engine room.”
/ AP
The medication had been packed in 56 sacks, every holding some 30 to 40 kilograms (about 66 to 88 kilos) of the drug, authorities stated, bringing the full haul to round two tons.
“Preliminary subject checks confirmed the substances as suspected cocaine,” the Korea Coast Guard official advised AFP.
“The seizure is the biggest in historical past, about 5 occasions greater than the earlier report which was 404 kilograms of methamphetamine,” a Korea Customs Service official advised AFP.
The estimated road worth is $697 million, they added.
Authorities have launched a joint investigation workforce to query the vessel’s captain and crew concerning the origin and meant vacation spot of the medication, and the route used to move them.
Investigators additionally stated they’re trying into potential ties to worldwide drug trafficking syndicates and can broaden cooperation with the FBI and HSI.
South Korea has lengthy ranked among the many nations with low drug use globally, due to its strict legal guidelines and robust social stigma.
The operation follows different main cocaine seizures on ships — and within the open seas — across the globe this 12 months. Simply final week, Portugese police stated officers just lately confiscated practically 6.5 tons of cocaine from a semi-submersible vessel, or so-called “narco sub,” intercepted off the Azores whereas sure for the Iberian peninsula.
In February, divers in Poland found greater than 220 kilos of cocaine on the underside of the Baltic Sea. That very same month, a semi-submersible vessel loaded with over 5,000 pounds of cocaine was intercepted off the Pacific coast of Colombia.
