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Honduras seizes 2.7 tonnes of cocaine smuggled by sea / Photo: © AGENCIA TECNICA DE INVESTIGACION CRIMINAL de Honduras/AFP
NYSE - LSE
Honduras seizes 2.7 tonnes of cocaine smuggled by sea
Honduran soldiers have seized more than 2.7 tonnes of cocaine smuggled in speedboats in the Caribbean Sea, the military said Monday.
More than 2,700 packages weighing a kilo each were found late Sunday in the eastern region of Gracias a Dios, armed forces spokesperson Santos Nolasco said.
The haul was discovered in two boats and on a beach, he said, adding that authorities were searching for any other hidden packages.
Since the 1970s, Honduras has been a transit point for cocaine smuggled from South America to the United States.
Former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez was convicted in a US court last month of conspiracy to import cocaine.
The 55-year-old was extradited to the United States in 2022, accused of aiding drug smugglers in return for millions of dollars in bribes.
Hernandez, who US prosecutors say turned his country into a "narco-state" during his 2014-2022 presidency, faces up to life imprisonment.
His successor Xiomara Castro has vowed to fight drug trafficking.
On March 24, naval forces in the small Central American country seized more than 1.3 tonnes of cocaine and arrested 10 suspected drug traffickers in the Caribbean Sea.
Y. Rousseau--BTZ
