Pubdate: 2 Apr 1999
Source: Reuters
Copyright: 1999 Reuters Limited.

PERUVIAN POLICE SEIZE TWO TONS OF COCAINE

LIMA, April 1 (Reuters) - Peruvian police on Thursday made the largest
cocaine seizure in the Andean country in four years, discovering more than
two tons (tonnes) of the drug hidden among fish in a refrigerated storage
container, authorities said.

The cocaine, seized at a warehouse in Lima's port of Callao, would have had
a street value of about $185 million in Europe, where most of the cocaine
was intended for sale, police said. The cocaine had been stuffed into small
silver-taped packets among the fish, police said.

Two men, a customs official and a truck driver, were arrested in connection
with the seizure, which represented the equivalent of almost a third of all
drugs confiscated in Peru last year, police said.

Smugglers apparently had hoped to ship most of the cocaine to Spain, but
also planned to sell some in Peru, police said.

The seizure was Peru's biggest cocaine haul since authorities seized more
than four tons (tonnes) when they broke up a major drug ring four years
ago, police said. 
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