
Police in Costa Rica on Sunday seized 4.3 tonnes of cocaine. The drug had originated in Colombia. The authorities in Costa Rica said that the drug bust was the Central American nation's second-largest this year.
Major drug seizures have raised fears in recent years that Costa Rica is becoming a major transit country for Colombian drugs that then head towards Europe. This has got the officials in one of Central America's most stable nations worried.
The cocaine was transported in a container loaded with ceramic floor tiling. It was aboard a commercial ship that arrived at Costa Rican port of Moin from Colombian port of Turbo.
"We're very close to 40 tonnes of marijuana and cocaine seizures in the country (so far in 2021). We hope to surpass last year's numbers," Costa Rica's Security Minister Michael Soto said in a statement.
Costa Rican authorities seized nearly 57 tonnes of cocaine in 2020, up 56% from a year earlier, according to the security ministry. They seized 14.5 tonnes of marijuana last year.
(With inputs from agencies)