Police in both countries have confiscated more than two tons of illegal narcotics that had been dyed black and disguised as a chemical component in printer and copier toner, according to a statement from the Columbian police.
Police in Colombia and Mexico seized more than two tons of cocaine that had been dyed black and disguised as a chemical component in printer and copier toner, according to a statement from the Columbian police.
A drug-sniffing dog alerted authorities to check a shipment found in the cargo terminal of the El Dorado International Airport in Bogota, Columbia. The search yielded 48 boxes containing “a black powder” that was registered in the cargo documents as a “chemical compound used to load toner cartridges for printers and photocopiers,” the police said.
Laboratory testing later confirmed the 1.07 tons of black powder was, in fact, cocaine.
The Columbian police said that they then alerted Mexican authorities to a similar shipment that had left the Bogota airport a few hours before the search took place. Drug enforcement agents in Mexico City impounded the plane and discovered 0.96 tons of the same “black” cocaine.
The police said that no arrests were made as a result of the operation, but they suspect the shipment was destined for members of the Sinaloa drug cartel in Mexico, sent by “a drug trafficking network that has roots in the Atlantic coast of Colombia.” The Sinaloa organization, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who escaped from a central Mexico prison July 11 through a sophisticated tunnel, is the oldest drug cartel in Mexico and operates extensive smuggling and distribution networks in South America, the United States and Europe.
Authorities estimated one ton of the illegal narcotic has a street value of $19.2 million in Mexico.
The Columbian National Police noted its agents so far in 2015 have seized 115 tons of cocaine within the country and an additional 47.2 tons of the drug abroad through international cooperation.
Colombia, Mexico seize 2 tons of ‘black’ cocaine
