Air France Flight from Venezuela Packed With 1.3 Tons of Cocaine
French police authorities were surprised to find that 30 suitcases aboard an Air France Flight are packed with 1.3 tons of cocaine, whose value reaches at $270 million. The flight was said to have been from Caracas, Venezuela, and on its way to Paris, according to CNN.
WashingtonTimes.com mentioned that the French officials got the goods on Sept 11 but kept it from the public until Saturday. The colourful suitcases did not match any of those owned by the passengers of the flight.
Air France is still investigating how the cocaine was smuggled into the flight. Reuters released the statement of the airline which in part said, "Pending the results of these investigations, immediate measures have been taken to enhance our checks of baggage and goods on departure from certain sensitive destinations."
Other officials said that the cocaine-packed suitcases were discovered at Charles de Gaulle Airport. The interior minister of France, Manuel Valls, mentioned that the drugs discovered could reach a value of 50 million euro, while other legal sources said that its street value could even be as big as 200 million euro.
Mr Valls told reporters on Saturday that this raid is branded to be the largest capture of cocaine within mainland France, being a part of the process of a judicial investigation. So far, six individuals who are of European nationalities are put on hold for questioning, but the police sources are still mum about giving more details than they should. Another official body that is helping on the case's investigation is the Caracas' public prosecutor's office.
The seizure of the cocaine drugs turned out to be the result of joined forces of security groups in Britain, Spain, The Netherlands and of course, France, the minister added.
Reuters further explained that according to drug enforcement experts, the location of Venezuela right on the Caribbean of South America makes it a preferred road for various modes of transportation to carry Colombian cocaine and bring it to the U.S. and Europe. The U.S. further reiterates that it has been almost 10 years since they have allegedly deemed Venezuela as remaining blind to the issues of drug smuggling, with some high ranking officials serving as drug kingpins themselves.