Billion-dollar bust as 15,000kg of cocaine found on cargo ship

Billion-dollar bust as 15,000kg of cocaine found on cargo ship
Michael Rubinkam June 20 2019 https://www.independent.ie/world-news/north-america/billiondollar-bust-a...

Authorities have seized 15,000kg of cocaine from a ship in Philadelphia in what was described as one of the largest drug busts in American history - worth an estimated $1bn (€891m).

Hidden inside seven shipping containers was 15,000kg of the illicit drug, one of the largest caches ever intercepted on US shores and a quantity that's almost "beyond comprehension", according to Patrick Trainor, a spokesman for the US Drug Enforcement Agency in Philadelphia.

The cargo ship docked in Colombia, Peru, Panama and the Bahamas before arriving in Philadelphia early on Monday.

Federal authorities raided the ship later that day.

Cocaine use and overdose deaths are on the rise in America after years of decline as production has surged to record levels in Colombia, the source of about 90pc of the US supply.