The Colombian Navy said Wednesday that officers from dozens of countries seized 225 metric tons of cocaine in a six-week mega-operation where they discovered a new Pacific smuggling route from South America to Australia.
Navy official Orlando Enrique Grisales told reporters that the latest phase of the global naval operation “Orion” resulted in the seizure of more than 1,400 tons of drugs, including 225 tons of cocaine and 128 tons of marijuana.
More than 400 people were arrested in the operation targeting oceans, coasts, rivers and ports around the world in October and November.
Security agencies from the United States, Brazil, Spain, Netherlands and many other countries as well as several international organizations were involved in this major bust.
According to a Navy statement, the seizure caused drug cartels to lose more than $8.4 billion.
Grisels said authorities also seized a semi-submersible wood and fiber glass ship bound for Australia with five tons of Colombian cocaine.
It was the third such shipwreck discovered in the region, revealing a “new smuggling route” with sophisticated boats that can cover distances of about 10,000 miles without the need to refuel.
A kilogram of cocaine sells for up to $240,000 in Australia — about six times the price in the United States, Grisels said.
“This is a route that is becoming increasingly profitable because prices in Australia are very high,” a security source told AFP.
“In the beginning, these boats were mainly used to transport drugs out of the country and transport them off the coast of Colombia and then transfer them to ships,” the source said.
“It has been found that these semisubmersibles, sometimes even submersibles, have now become increasingly sophisticated with very fine engineering.”
The operation also revealed previously unknown nexus between cartels from Mexico, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru, along with groups from Europe and Oceania.
“It’s not just a pyramid structure that the cartels once were. Today they are interconnected organized crime networks,” Grisels said.
Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine producer and exporter, primarily to the United States and Europe.
Last year, the South American country set a new record for cocaine production and the cultivation of the coca leaf from which it is made.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
