LA PAZ, Bolivia - Police have seized 5 tons of cocaine meant for shipment to Spain - the country's biggest drug bust ever, the government reported Sunday.
Interior Minister Yerko Kukoc said Bolivia's Special Anti-Drug Force seized 3 tons of cocaine Saturday in the southeastern city of Santa Cruz and arrested 24 members of "an international drug trafficking gang." At least two Colombian nationals were reported to be among those arrested.
The government said its anti-drug forces acted on tips from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and from police in Spain.
Two tons were seized in a Friday raid.
Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. A U.S.-backed program in recent years has helped eliminate about 80 percent of the country's coca plantations.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/6451679.htm
Interior Minister Yerko Kukoc said Bolivia's Special Anti-Drug Force seized 3 tons of cocaine Saturday in the southeastern city of Santa Cruz and arrested 24 members of "an international drug trafficking gang." At least two Colombian nationals were reported to be among those arrested.
The government said its anti-drug forces acted on tips from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and from police in Spain.
Two tons were seized in a Friday raid.
Bolivia is the world's third-largest producer of coca, the plant used to make cocaine. A U.S.-backed program in recent years has helped eliminate about 80 percent of the country's coca plantations.
http://www.aberdeennews.com/mld/aberdeennews/news/6451679.htm
