- Title: COLOMBIA: COLOMBIAN AUTHORITIES SEIZE MORE THAN THREE TONNES OF COCAINE
- Date: 11th July 2000
- Summary: BUENAVENTURA, CALI, COLOMBIA (JULY 11, 2000) (REUTERS) 1. VARIOUS OF COCAINE IN PACKAGES ON FLOOR BEING GUARDED BY POLICE (6 SHOTS) 1.00 2. MV POLICE TESTING COCAINE 1.05 3. SV (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NATIONAL POLICE DIRECTOR, LUIS ERNESTO GILIBERT SAYING: "We captured approximately three tonnes of cocaine that were to be transported to Manzanillo, Mexico. At this moment we are making contact with drug authorities in Mexico. We are trying to get help from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Our allies our interested in our fight against drugs, they play an important part." 1.35 4. VARIOUS OF CONFISCATED COCAINE (2 SHOTS) 1.55 5. SV (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) VICE-DIRECTOR OF DEA IN COLOMBIA, WILLIAM PENA, SAYING: "We are investigating you know 3,000 kilos is a big amount of drugs that were heading towards Mexico. We do not know if they have sent that amount or how much they were going to send. We are going to investigate. I want to say that this is excellent pressure that the police is putting on the sale of drugs." 2.14 6. VARIOUS OF CONFISCATED COCAINE (3 SHOTS) 2.24 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
- Embargoed: 26th July 2000 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: BUENAVENTURA, CALI, COLOMBIA
- Country: Colombia
- Reuters ID: LVA99OE12E3G4IAUMAG13468S75G
- Story Text: Colombian authorities have seized more than three
tonnes of cocaine.
Colombian police seized more than 6,600 pounds (3,000
kg) of pure cocaine as traffickers were preparing to slip it
out of the country in a shipping container bound for Mexico,
authorities said on Tuesday (July 11).
It was the biggest drug haul linked to Buenaventura, the
main port on Colombia's Pacific coast, since mid-February when
security forces confiscated 12,000 pounds (6,000 kg) of
cocaine aboard a vessel that had just set sail from the port.
National Police chief Gen. Ernesto Gilibert said the
latest multimillion-dollar cocaine stash was discovered on
Monday night in a shipping container filled with industrial
machinery due to be loaded aboard a Liberian cargo ship headed
for the Mexican port of Manzanillo.
The white powder drug, neatly packed in polyurethane
packets weighing 2.2 pounds (1 kg) each, had been covered with
coffee and lead to avoid detection by drug-sniffing dogs,
Gilibert said.
According to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration,
cocaine sells for between $10,500 and $36,000 per kilo
wholesale in the United States, so Monday's consignment could
have been worth up to $108 million if it was transshipped to
the U.S. market.
"I want to say that this is excellent pressure that the
police is putting on the sale of drugs," said the
Vice-director of the DEA in Colombia, William Pena.
At least six people were arrested in connection with the
drug haul, but they were not immediately identified.
Colombia is estimated to supply about 80 percent of the
world's cocaine and up to two-thirds of the heroin sold in the
United States.
ljw
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