The authorities in Dominican Republic say they seized nearly 9.5 tons of cocaine found in a shipment of bananas.
This is the largest drug bust in the country’s history.
The drugs, worth $250 million (£196 million), were found in a shipment that arrived at Caucedo, the country’s main seaport, in the capital of Santo Domingo.
The shipment was sent from Guatemala and was destined for Belgium, according to Carlos Devers, a spokesman for the Dominican Republic’s drug enforcement agency.
Ten suspects have been detained, he told a news conference.
“Early investigations indicate that a container of bananas arrived from Guatemala,” he said. “Many unknown persons attempted to transfer the drugs to another container which was to be sent on a ship to Belgium.”
He said it was the largest seizure in the country, surpassing a seizure of 2.6 tonnes, also in Caudedo, in 2006.
Authorities have seized nearly 47 tons of drugs so far this year.
InSight Crime, a think tank that analyzes organized crime, said the record seizures made this year suggest the Caribbean is re-emerging as a major trafficking route from Colombia to Europe, where consumption is estimated to have increased by more than two times between 2011 and last year.
“As demand grows, traffickers are stepping up their efforts to meet it, turning to the Caribbean as an ideal conduit for smuggling cocaine into Europe,” InSight Crime said in a late November analysis, noting that major Dominican transit hubs provide ample opportunities for traffickers .