Police in Italy have seized more than a ton of pure cocaine worth as much as $340 million from a shipping container carrying farm equipment from Brazil.
Police in the city of Gioia Tauro, near the southwestern tip of Italy, were tipped off about the 2,200-pound load by officials from Britain’s Serious Organised Crime Agency.
Rome's Carabinieri, the country’s national police, said it was the largest drug seizure in Italy in 15 years.
Salvatore Cagnazzo, the commander in charge of the investigation, said at a press conference in Rome that the cocaine had been stashed in the cavity of some tractors stored in the shipping container, Sky News reported.
Gioia Tauro is a port city in the region of Calabria, home to the notorious 'Ndrangheta organized crime syndicate, which has been expanding its grip on drug trafficking in Europe.
Cagnazzo said Italian officials believe that the cocaine came from Colombian drug cartels with ties to the 'Ndrangheta.
The size of the shipment signaled that Gioia Tauro had developed into a major hub for drug traffickers from South America and Asia, the BBC reported.
"It was a historical seizure. One of the biggest ever in Italy," said Giancarlo Capaldo of the anti-mafia investigative team in Rome that made the bust. No suspects have been identified by investigators, who believe that Colombian drug traffickers may be involved.
"We hope it is the beginning of the uncovering of an international drug ring," Capaldo said.
