Cocaine worth nearly $500 million seized from sugar, bananas in South America drug busts

Officials this week confiscated more than 10 tons of cocaine seized from sugar and bananas in two South America drug busts and arrested at least five people in connection to the trafficking cases.

On Tuesday, officials in Paraguay announced "the largest cocaine seizure" in the country's history, after officials discovered more than 4 tons of the drug hidden inside bags of sugar bound for Europe.

According to a news release, agents from Paraguay's anti-drug agency on Monday began unpacking containers filled with dozens of pounds of sacks of sugar at Puerto Caacupemi, a river port in the country's capital, Asunción bordered by the Paraguay River.

Public Prosecutor's Office Attorney Alejandro Cardozo was notified and, according to the release, opened a container which showed the drugs were bound for Antwerp, Belgium. Officials said they found more than 8,000 pounds 4,013 kilos of cocaine hidden in bags with the sugar.

"This morning, three other containers linked to the scheme under investigation are being reviewed in order to rule out or obtain greater certainty about other shipments contaminated with cocaine," officials wrote in the release. "The task, which is still unfinished in terms of examination, already stands as the largest seizure of cocaine in the fight against drug trafficking in our country."

So far, officials wrote in the release, the the drugs confiscated are estimated to be worth about $240 million in street value in Europe.

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More than six tons of cocaine found hidden in bananas

The second bust took place one day earlier nearly 2,000 miles northwest in Ecuador, where police dogs found more than six tons of cocaine hidden in a banana shipment headed to Germany, during a routine inspection at the Deep Water Maritime Port in Posorja, a small village in the country's southern end.

According to a news release issued Monday by the country's State Attorney General's Office, police found the drugs after dogs alerted officers to their presence, and when authorities opened the containers they found 5,630 brick-shaped packages hidden under the fruit, totaling more than six tons of cocaine.

In all, police arrested five people in connection to the bust including one person who they said represented the export company responsible for the shipment. Also detained: the managers of the banana plantation where the cocaine was suspected to have been added to the shipment, and a person who drove the container to the port.

The shipment was destined for Germany, officials said, and had a street value of $224 million.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@usatoday.com and follow her on X @nataliealund.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Cocaine worth nearly $500 million seized from sugar, bananas in South America drug busts