1.2 tonnes of cocaine hidden in cargo of Colombian bananas

www.vheadline.com Posted: Sunday, March 02, 2003 By: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

The 31st National Guard (GN) Border Unit has seized 1.2 tonnes of cocaine hidden in a cargo of Colombian bananas aboard a truck stopped and searched on the Venezuelan side of the Limon River bridge in the Goajira region of western Zulia State.

GN General Romer Carmona says the drug was en route to the port of Rio Hacha in Colombia for transshipment to the USA or the Caribbean and had entered through the Catatumbo River in South Zulia and transported along the Machiques-Colon highway to Maracaibo where the truck remained for several days.

US Drugs Enforcement Agency (DEA), Colombian and Venezuelan police are said to be coordinating actions to tackle the latest tactic of transporting drugs. Sources indicate that traffickers are using the Zulia diversion to avoid passing through areas dominated by the Colombian Army.