Costa Rica seizes two tons of cocaine hidden with pineapples

Costa Rican authorities seized two tons of cocaine that were hidden in a container with a shipment of pineapples destined for Belgium, the government reported Thursday.

The drug shipment was detected Wednesday in an inspection by the Drug Control Police (PCD) in the Caribbean port of Moín, the Ministry of Public Security said in a statement.

“The PCD carried out the investigations of the case and determined that it was about 2,000 packages of cocaine, each of them weighing approximately one kilogram,” the ministry said in the statement.

Costa Rica’s ports have been used by drug gangs to ship drugs abroad, especially to Europe.

Last January, the PCD found a shipment of 110 kilos of cocaine hidden in a container with pineapple juice that was to be exported to Spain.

According to the Ministry of Public Security, Costa Rican authorities seized 16,192 kilos of cocaine hidden in containers with export products last year.

The Central American countries are used as bridges to transport drugs from the producing countries of South America to the markets of the United States and Europe.