Cocaine
REUTERS

Uruguayan authorities had shared through a public announcement that it had seized a record-breaking six tons of cocaine worth approximately $1 billion. They had dubbed the cocaine seizure in Uruguay as one of the largest holdup for illegal drug traders in the history of Uruguay.

Officers from the Navy and Customs had apprehended 4.40 tons of illegal drugs in the port of Montevideo. The drugs had been placed in 4 containers of soy flour. The containers' supposed destination was Lome (capital of Togo).

1.50 tons of illegal drugs were later identified on a ranch.

Four were arrested for their possible connection with the illegal drug transporting activities involving the cocaine seizure in Uruguay.

Recently, Uruguay is becoming a delivery point for most illegal drug transactions coming from Latin America to countries in Europe and Africa.

The recent arrest before the six tons haul of the country was just a month ago. The illegal drugs (cocaine) were discovered in a container in Montevideo. It was reported that the container contained 3 tons of cocaine that was destined to be delivered in Benin through Tenerife (an island in Spain).

They seized 4.40 tons were found by authorities when irregularities were observed from the port of Montevideo pointing to the containers.

Suspicion arose when it was noticed that the export company had not been delivering soya products in the past. Also, African nations do not consume that much soya. It was also observed that one-third of the illegal drug cocaine that Europeans consume made its way to Europe through Africa.

A spokesman of the Navy named Diego Perona had shared to reporters that the first container open contain a minimum of 3,000 bricks of the illegal drug cocaine. Each of the bricks weighed 1.10 kilograms or 2.40 pounds. It was scheduled that the containers were to be transported through an Italian ship.

Jaime Borgiani, the director of Customs, said that the expected value of the 4.40 tons of cocaine seized amounts to $1 billion in the market in Europe.

Borgiani said that the origination of the cocaine was unknown. What is known is that it came from trucks that originated from a ranch Southwest of the Soriano Department which is 290 kilometers from the port of Montevideo.

According to the interior ministry, the country's police had made a raid operation in the ranch and had found cocaine in the area. The police had also obtained an additional 1.50 tons of cocaine in the ranch. The four arrested were the owner of the ranch, his son, and his two workers.

The obtained illegal drugs from the cocaine seizure in Uruguay by the authorities were posted on Twitter by the ministry.

According to Borgiani, the post was a move to show the world and the drug traders to not mess with the customs of the country of Uruguay. He shared that the country is exerting much effort to end the illegal acts involving drugs in the country.

There is an increasing trend in the trade of cocaine because of the rising global growth of the plant where the cocaine came from. This is the highest it had reached in more or less two decades.

In the early parts of the year, the drugs agency EU had announced that authorities from Europe had been seizing a rising number of pure cocaine. Some illegal drug traders were even operating "cocaine call centers" for the immediate and flexible delivery of their customers' orders.