The Civil Guard with the collaboration of the Customs Surveillance Officials of the Tax Agency have seized 419 kilos of cocaine inside a container of coffee that came from Costa Rica.
The legal cargo carried by the container consisted of 275 packages of about 70 kilos each, totaling a value of more than 19,000 kilos. The transfer and storage of coffee in bags is a technique used to hide cocaine loads, since its handling is complicated.
When the container was passed through the scanner, in the bags near the door, some suspicious black and red packages were identified. When the cargo was taken to the logistics warehouse, it was found that the packages contained 631 shrink-wrapped cocaine pills, weighing 419 kilos.
This type of smuggling called a blind hook introduces the drug without being hidden and is usually located close to the door to facilitate its handling.
In this type of technique, a third party, external to the drug trafficking organization, introduces the drug into the container and closes it. Likewise, when the container reaches its destination, another person from the organization is in charge of removing the merchandise. In some cases, handling is carried out with the help of a port operator, who is in charge of moving and unloading the merchandise.
