By Daniele Ramos
LA PAZ (Reuters) – Bolivian police have made the second largest drug seizure in the country’s history, seizing more than 7.2 tonnes of cocaine destined for Belgium, with a street value of almost half a billion dollars, they said. the Minister of the Interior.
The operation was carried out in the mountainous region of Pisiga, Bolivia, on the border with Chile. The drugs were hidden in two trucks carrying scrap iron for export to Europe via Chilean ports on the Pacific.
“If we consider the price of these controlled substances in the country of destination, we are talking about an impact on drug trafficking of more than 451 million dollars,” Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said in a press conference on Monday.
Del Castillo reported that the seller of the drugs had fled the country to the United States, which he attributed to leaks of information from the prosecutor’s office to the media.
In January, Bolivian police conducted the country’s largest anti-drug operation, seizing more than 8 tons of cocaine, also on the border with Chile.
Bolivia is one of the world’s largest producers of coca, the raw material used to produce cocaine. The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime has noted a significant increase in drug shipments from the “Southern Cone” of South America, often to Europe.