Costa Rica Seizes Five Tons of Cocaine Bound for Holland in Largest Narcotics Seizure Ever in Country

February 15: Police in Costa Rica seized more than 5 tons of cocaine bound for the Dutch port of Rotterdam in the country’s largest ever drugs bust, officials said.

The authorities on Saturday found the cocaine in Costa Rica’s Caribbean port of Limon, stashed inside a shipping container of decorative canopy plants bound for the Netherlands.

The anti-narcotics police discovered the drugs in 202 small bags and said the cocaine was produced in South America, though did not specify where.

The drugs had an estimated street value of about 126 million euro ($136 million) in Holland, Costa Rica’s Security Minister Michael Soto said late on Saturday.

“It’s a historic seizure,” Soto said in a statement. “It is a blow to the regional criminal structures.”

A Costa Rican man, who drove the shipment from north of the country to Limon port, was detained, authorities said.

Source: Reuters / Alvaro Murillo