Seizure of two tons of cocaine bound for Belgium in Costa Rica

 Steph Deschamps / February 5, 2021

Two tons of cocaine hidden in a container bound for Belgium were seized Wednesday in Costa Rica, the Costa Rican Interior Ministry said Thursday in a statement.

The drug was discovered during the inspection of a shipment of pineapples on board a container ship in the port of Moin (Caribbean coast) by anti-drug police.

The drugs were packaged in 2,000 packets of cocaine, each about one kilogram, the interior ministry said. Tropical fruit exports by sea from Costa Rica are commonly used by drug trafficking networks, particularly to Europe.

Last October, the Costa Rican authorities had already seized nearly three tons of cocaine from a cargo ship bound for the port of Antwerp. The drug, distributed in 2,903 one-kilo packets, had been discovered in a shipment of bananas.

110kgs in a load of pineapple juice

And in January, Costa Rican anti-drug police discovered 110 kilograms of cocaine hidden in a shipment of pineapple juice on its way to Spain. More than 16 tons of cocaine were seized last year by Costa Rican authorities in containers.

Drug trafficking from South American producer countries to the United States and Europe transits for the most part through Central American countries by land, sea or air.

In Antwerp, a record total of 65.48 tons of cocaine were intercepted at the port last year, according to figures from the FPS Finance's General Administration of Customs and Excise.