Chilean authorities have announced the seizure of more than 100 tonnes of drugs hidden in lumber shipments bound for Europe, describing the operation as the largest drug bust in the country's history.<\/p>\n
According to Chile's customs bureau, authorities intercepted 1,080 tonnes of lumber impregnated with illegal substances following a six-month investigation involving the prosecutor's office, maritime police and customs officials.<\/p>\n
\u201cThanks to a joint effort by the prosecutor\u2019s office, maritime police and customs, 1,080 tonnes of lumber laced with various drugs were seized, marking a historic blow to organized crime in our country,\u201d the customs bureau said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The operation led to the identification of 45 containers that had arrived from Bolivia carrying the tainted lumber. Authorities said the drugs consisted mainly of cocaine and ketamine.<\/p>\n
The seized narcotics are estimated to have had a retail value of approximately US$8.3 billion on the European market.<\/p>\n
According to customs officials, the drugs had been chemically incorporated into the lumber and would have required advanced extraction processes in specialized laboratories once the cargo reached its final destination.<\/p>\n
Authorities have not disclosed the intended European destinations of the shipments.<\/p>\n
The total volume of drugs seized could increase further as investigators continue to inspect additional containers considered suspicious.<\/p>\n
Chile has become an increasingly important transit route for drug trafficking organizations operating in South America, with authorities reporting growing efforts by criminal groups to use legitimate export cargoes to move narcotics to overseas markets.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":98958,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5204],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-98957","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n