Traffickers ‘impregnate’ rice with cocaine

DRUG traffickers in Argentina have been caught attempting a new method of smuggling cocaine into Europe – “impregnating” rice with the drug, then packaging it into World Food Project sacks.

Customs officers in Rosario – a key transit city for Argentine and Colombian drugs gangs – found 66lb of cocaine stashed inside rice sacks in a warehouse, ready to be shipped to Africa via Brazil and then smuggled into Europe.

The rice had been soaked in water mixed with cocaine, according to Guillermo Gonzalez, chief of narcotic investigations for Argentina’s customs agency. When the water evaporated, the rice was left invisibly “impregnated” with the drug. He said: “It’s a new method. This is the first time we’ve seen technology this sophisticated.”

The traffickers probably planned to grind the grains into fine powder and sell it as cocaine, which would have had a street value of $1 million (£650,000).

“Pure cocaine is too strong to be ingested without being cut with something,” Mr Gonzalez added.

Thirteen suspects have been arrested. Police believe the discovery was a test run for a large-scale operation.

The scheme was discovered when sniffer dogs detected cocaine in the cargo.

66lb Amount of cocaine found mixed with rice in sacks in a warehouse in Argentina, awaiting shipment to Africa