Colombian police make biggest heroin bust in years
December 8th, 2009 - 12:45 pm ICT by IANSBogota, Dec 8 (EFE) A police drug-sniffing dog led officers to 131 kg of heroin hidden in a wood shipment at the northern Colombian port of Barranquilla, making it the biggest seizure of the illegal drug in years, officials said.
Officers also found 136 kg of cocaine inside the shipping containers, the commander of the drug enforcement police, Gen. Francisco Patino, told reporters.
Police did not say whether any arrests had been made in connection with the drug bust.
Mateo, a dog trained to find heroin, discovered the drugs even though the smugglers had placed the illegal cargo in sealed packages to make it harder to detect.
The drugs were in three containers bound for the Dominican Republic, from where they “would be shipped and distributed on the streets of the United States”, Patino said.
The cocaine and heroin belonged to Los Paisas, one of the new criminal organisations involved in drug trafficking.
The heroin had a street value of approximately $6.5 million, while the cocaine was worth about $4.7 million on US streets, police said.
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