COLOMBIA-DRUGS Colombian police seize nearly a tonne of cocaine hidden in fuel tank trailer

Record ID: 149235

  • Title: COLOMBIA-DRUGS Colombian police seize nearly a tonne of cocaine hidden in fuel tank trailer
  • Date: 22nd July 2015
  • Summary: BOGOTA, COLOMBIA (JULY 22, 2015) (REUTERS) PALOMINO DURING STATEMENTS (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) GENERAL RODOLFO PALOMINO, DIRECTOR OF THE NATIONAL POLICE, SAYING: "We know it would initially stopover in Central America and from there possibly with detours either to North America or Europe." VARIOUS OF COCAINE PACKAGES VARIOUS OF POLICE GOING INTO TRAILER
  • Embargoed: 6th August 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Colombia
  • Country: Colombia
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA1IZ433APYN8J4A0AU2KNM0UXK
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Colombian police seized nearly one tonne of cocaine in a police operation against a crime gang in the capital city of Bogota, police said on Wednesday (July 22).
    The drugs, belonged to the Colombian Usuga Clan crime gang and valued at some $240 million dollars, were discovered hidden inside a fuel tank trailer, which has the capacity to transport 52 tonnes, General Rodolfo Palomino, the head of Colombia's national police, told reporters in Bogota.
    The trailer departed from the southern municipality of Puerto Asis in the Putumayo department and then travelled to the centre of the country. It made a first stop in the city of Ibague in the Tolima department, where its fuel tank was completely emptied, the police in a news release.
    Police officers stopped the vehicle as it was entering the capital city. The police said they realised something was amiss because the tank seemed to be empty but weighed more.
    The tank was then transferred to a police station and punctured, revealing a sophisticated air-tight tire compartment, where 777 cocaine packages had been stashed, police said.
    Each package was wrapped with aluminium foil, latex, fat, vaseline as well as plastic and duct tape, to waterproof the drug and avoid it being detected by scanner or sniffer dogs at checkpoints, according to the news release.
    "For now we have been able to seize this important stash. It's a stash of 777 (cocaine packages), nearly 800 kilos. In the international market it could be worth a little over $240 million dollars. This is a major blow to the criminal structure of the Usuga Clan (criminal group)," Palomino said.
    The Usuga Clan, which has at least 2,000 members, is the country's largest criminal group.
    Colombia, a major cocaine producer, turns out some 300 tonnes annually, according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
    So far this year, the National Police has seized and destroyed 88 tons of cocaine, 26 more than the same period in 2014. A further 34 tonnes were intercepted by foreign Coast Guards in international waters, thanks to information provided by the Colombian police, authorities reported.
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