Paraguay seizes 875 kilos of cocaine in rice bags

ASUNCION, Paraguay - Paraguay has made its largest cocaine seizure yet: more than 1,900 pounds (875 kilograms) of white powder disguised as bags of rice.

Prosecutor Gilda Villalba says the container was headed to Mozambique, probably en route to Europe, where it would be worth $131 million on the streets.

U.S. drug enforcement agents were called in after workers at the private Phoenix river port grew suspicious about rice from the notorious smuggling zone along the Triple Frontier of Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina.

One of the Paraguayan men responsible for the shipment turned himself in. Police are seeking another.

Paraguay's biggest cocaine catch before Wednesday's seizure was 1,600 pounds (753 kilograms) in 1994 along the Bolivia border.

Source: Metro News - 01.06.2011