Authorities discover more than 4,000 kilos of cocaine in 2021's largest drug bust

In this year's most significant drug bust, customs officials in Rotterdam discovered 4,178 kilos of cocaine in the Port of Rotterdam on Saturday evening.

The Douane discovered the narcotics in two containers from Paraguay, which were loaded onto another ship in Uruguay. The stash was hidden among soja beans in big bags destined for Portugal.

The cocaine was estimated to have a street value of around 313 million euros.

Earlier this week, investigators in Rotterdam had already discovered 1,400 kilos of cocaine in Rotterdam. Overseas, authorities intercepted 5,800 kilos of drugs destined for the Netherlands.

The discovery of nearly 3,500 kilograms of narcotics in Panama was the largest-ever bust in the Central American country. In Colombia, authorities discovered around 2,300 kilos of cocaine in the port of Cartagena with a street value of approximately 91 million euros.