Colombia- Cocaine discovery in avocado exports bound for Europe

Colombian Anti-narcotics police from the Valle del Cauca division have seized 1.5 metric tons (MT) of cocaine hidden within boxes of export avocados in the port city of Buenaventura, according to the Argentinian news site Infobae.

The Colombian Attorney General was reported by Infobae as saying that the merchandise was destined for Antwerp in Belgium.

In total, the discovery consisted of 1,572 rectangular, green packages layered between avocados in shipping container.

According to the Valle del Cauca Police, this drug shipment would have been worth approximately $69 million in the illegal European market, amounting to  5 million doses distributed on the streets of Spain, the Netherlands, and Germany.

Those responsible will be charged with trafficking and manufacturing and possession of narcotics, police said.

A find like this is not an unheard of occurrence, however. This is the third discovery of cocaine hidden among Colombian-origin agricultural exports this month.

The first two took place on Nov. 11 in the ports of Barranquilla and Santa Marta where the drug was found hidden in shipments of coffee and fruit bound for Syria and Belgium respectively.

In the city of Buenaventura alone, port controls have reported the discovery of 9MT of cocaine by officials prior to export in 2020.

Another recent case in this city occurred on Oct. 6, reported Infobae. On this occasion, 1.604 kilos were found hidden in three containers of organic sugar. The shipment was likewise bound for Belgium