Paraguay carries out largest cocaine bust in its history as 4 tons are found in sugar shipment headed to Europe

By Abel Alvarado, CNN

(CNN) — Authorities in Paraguay seized over 4 tons of cocaine with a market value of around $240 million inside a shipment of sugar that was destined for Belgium, the country’s anti-drug agency Senad said Tuesday.

The cocaine bust – named “Operation Sweetness” – is the largest in the country’s history and was carried out in capital Asuncion’s seaport, according to Senad.

Senad said that after “detecting a suspicious shipment” it coordinated with other government agencies to carry out the drug bust, adding that currently more containers are being inspected and that “all investigative proceedings are focused on the criminal structure that set in motion the logistics of mobilizing the megaload mainly for the European continent.”

One person has been detained, a truck driver who allegedly dropped off the drug shipment at the seaport, Senad’s Minister Jalil Rachid told Paraguayan network ABC.

Rachid provided few details into the investigation but said an organized criminal group was likely behind the shipment.

“Nowadays, drugs don’t leave Paraguay, the drugs are confiscated here in our territory, and now the big challenge is to prevent drugs entering Paraguay, clearly the country is not a cocaine producer,” Paraguay’s President Santiago Peña told local media after the drug bust.

Peña said the country is “used as drug route and obviously this (bust) is going to discourage (traffickers).”

“I think this is a signal sent to organized crime groups to stop using Paraguay, because they will be met with authorities that are determined,” the president said.

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