Drug Busts: One ton or greater

On January 2, 2010, Venezuelan officials announced that they had confiscated 27.5 metric tons (30 tons) of cocaine between January 1 and December 24, 2009.

On January 2, Spain’s interior ministry announced it had seized two tons of cocoaine hidden beneath cut flowers imported from Colombia. Spain remains the favorite destination for cocaine shipped from Latin America for the European market.

On January 5, Spanish police announced they had seized more than 14 tons of cocaine during 2009.

On January 5, officials in Rotterdam announced the seizure of 1.2 tons of cocaine. The shipment was from Jamaica.

On January 29, Admiral Thad Allen, Coast Guard commandant and chairman of the Office of National Drug Control Policy's Interdiction Committee, announced that during 2009, the Coast Guard, together with other federal drug interdiction and investigative agencies, seized 175 tons of cocaine.

On February 10, police in the Colombian province of Cordoba announced the seizure of one ton of cocaine hidden in the panels of a truck, hauling cattle feed. Three days earlier the Colombian coast guard seized one-half ton of cocaine from a boat in the Pacific.

On March 5, Spanish authorities announced the seizure of 1.3 tons of cocaine in the port city of Valencia. The cocaine was hidden beneath a false bottom of a container aboard the Cypriot-flagged ship Nordsea. The drugs had been shipped from the Dominican Republic.

On March 8, Spanish authorities announced the seizure of one ton of cocaine. The drugs, from Colombia, were onboard a refrigerated container ship that sailed into the Basque port of Bilbao from Panama. The cocaine had been dissolved, and concealed in cans of fruit pulp.

On March 8, in a multi-country operation, Colombian, U.S., Panamanian and Honduran officials, seized more than two tons of cocaine aboard two speedboats off the coasts of Panama and Honduras. The first seizure, in international waters off Honduras, yielded 1.53 tons of cocaine. The second seizure, in the Pacific Ocean off Panama, was made by the U.S. Coast Guard, which seized .84 tons of cocaine.

On March 12, the Coast Guard in Panama seized two tons of cocaine and a motorboat. More than 1.75 tons of cocaine was retrieved from the Caribbean Ocean, after it was tossed overboard during a high-speed boat chase. The Coast Guard found the remaining cocaine aboard the motorboat. During 2009, Panama, a major drug route between South America and the U.S. seized 50 tons of cocaine.

On March 13, police in Venezuela found two tons of cocaine hidden in a shipment of machinery bound for the Netherlands. The origin of the cocaine was Colombia. During the first two and one-half months of 2010, Venezuela has seized 11 tons of cocaine.

On March 15, authorities in Ecuador seized 1.2 tons of cocaine that had been dissolved in barrels of molasses.

On March 15, officials in Madrid announced the seizure of 5.7 tons of cocaine. Twelve nations participated in the operation to dismantle an international organization that smuggled illegal drugs between South America and Europe. Thirty arrests were made. In addition to the cocaine, authorities also seized 155,000 tablets of Ecstasy, 1.6 kilos of heroin, and other illegal substances.

On March 19, Bolivian police seized 2.5 tons of cocaine, which had been shipped from Peru. According to Col. Jorge Romero, regional chief of the elite FELCN drug squad in the eastern city of Santa Cruz, “The quantity of drugs seized is incredible and is far beyond what many other operations have achieved in the last two or three years.” He added, “One hundred percent of the drug comes from Peru. Now we see our country being used as a transit zone for drugs. We don’t know if it was going to be exported to another nation or it was going to a laboratory for crystallization. “Crystallization” is a word used in Bolivia for a process that improves the purity of the drug, making it more valuable. During the first 2-1/2 months of 2010, Bolivia has seized nearly seven tons of cocaine.

On March 22, the U.S. Navy announced that on three separate occasions during its one-month maiden voyage, the USS Freedom seized 4.2 tons of cocaine after intercepting three drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea. The seizures occurred on February 22, March 3, and March 11.

On March 22, the Colombian military seized more than 1.5 tons of cocaine in the Caribbean coastal city of Cartagena. Marines discovered the cocaine in a van, which was ready to be transported abroad. During the first 2-2/3 months of 2010, five tons of cocaine has been seized in the city of Cartagena.

On March 25, Costa Rican police seized “at least one ton of cocaine” from two boats in the Pacific Ocean. The cocaine was shipped from Colombia. During the first three months of 2010, Costa Rica has seized approximately eight tons of cocaine.

On March 31, authorities in Bolivia announced two separate seizure of cocaine, which totaled1.5 tons. During the first three months of 2010, Bolivia has seized more than 10 tons of cocaine.

On March 31, Spanish authorities announced the seizure of 2.75 tons of cocaine. The cocaine originated in Colombia and Mexico and was smuggled into the eastern port city of Valencia.

On April 15, German authorities announced “the country’s largest every drugs haul.” Customs officials found 1.3 tons of cocaine hidden in containers of firewood, which had been imported into the Hamburg docks from Paraguay.

On April 20, Mexican authorities announced the seizure of 1.7 tons of cocaine in the Gulf port of Veracruz.