INQUISITR.COM / News & Politics

Massive Drug Bust Nets 8 Tons Of Cocaine: Colombia Claims Largest Cocaine Seizure In Its History

By Andrew Galbreath
Published on: 15:01 PST, May 16, 2016

https://rumble.com/embed/vcde9/

Colombian police seized 8.8 tons of cocaine along the country’s border with Panama, Colombia’s government said on Sunday. Authorities say this is the biggest drug bust in the history of the country, which has long been plagued by the illegal drug trade.

Officials of the Colombian national police say the drugs, which have an estimated value of $240 million, were discovered in an underground chamber beneath a banana plantation near the north-western coastal municipality of Turbo. Three people were arrested while three others reportedly escaped during the operation.

The Colombian Ministry of National Defense posted photos on its official Twitter account of colorful packages of drugs seized in the bust. At least one ton of the cocaine was wrapped in colorful packages and ready for sale, apparently destined for Central America, the Caribbean, and the United States. Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas alleged the cocaine belongs to the Clan Usuga gang, a criminal drug-smuggling neo-paramilitary group that U.S. officials have been targeting. The State Department is currently offering a $5 million reward for the capture of their leader, Dario Antonio Usuga David.

“The biggest seizure of drugs in history. A hit against criminals,” Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Twitter, according to NBC News.

The Defense Ministry said that the operation began at 6 a.m. local time on Sunday in the town of Turbo, about 300 miles from Bogota, the country’s capital. Fifty commandos backed by helicopters stormed the plantation and found the enormous stash of drugs hidden under a cement floor inside a small building. Colombian police released a video of the cocaine being pulled out from its hiding place, in an underground pit 6.5 meters wide and 2.5 meters deep:

Earlier this month, the government of Colombia announced a new strategy of launching air raids against criminal cartels involved in drug trafficking and illegal mining, in particular targeting three major gangs — Clan Usuga, Los Pelusos, and Los Puntilleros. According to the BBC, this operation is part of the larger pattern of Colombian forces cracking down on criminal gangs, paramilitaries, and cartels that traffic in illegal narcotics.

“It was the largest seizure of cocaine on Colombian territory although there may have been slightly larger cocaine seizures at sea, he added. Clan Usuga is mainly engaged in drug trafficking but has also been accused of extortion, illegal mining, forced disappearances and murder, correspondents say. Colombian police estimate the gang has about 2,000 active members. Over the past five years, the security forces have captured 6,700 members of the group.”

The Miami Herald noted that such enormous seizures of drugs are rare, though not completely unprecedented on a global scale.

“In March 2007, the U.S. Coast Guard seized nearly 20 tons of cocaine found on a cargo ship, the ‘Gatun,’ headed from the Panama Canal to the Mexican port of Topolobampo. Six years before, the Coast Guard found 13 tons of the drug aboard a Belize-flagged fishing boat that aroused suspicion while off the Mexican coast because it had no working fishing equipment and few fish.”

The Washington Post also noted that despite the decades-long “war on drugs,” cocaine remains a valuable commodity on the international black market.

“While prices are fluid and vary by and even within cities, a kilogram of cocaine can sell for roughly $30,000 to $40,000 in the Washington, D.C., area, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. At that rate, 8 tons of the unadulterated drug is worth a quarter-billion, more or less.”

The United Nations estimates that Colombia produces 487 tons of cocaine annually. Colombian authorities confiscated 278 tons of the drug last year, and officials say they have seized 86 tons so far this year.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

Share this article: Massive Drug Bust Nets 8 Tons Of Cocaine: Colombia Claims Largest Cocaine Seizure In Its History
More from Inquisitr