Colombia seizes 7.6 tonnes of cocaine at Cartagena port — biggest bust in a decade
Colombian police seized 7.6 tonnes of cocaine hidden in powdered panela at Cartagena port — the port's largest seizure in a decade, President Abelardo de la Espriella announced this week.
Colombia’s National Police has seized 7.6 tonnes of cocaine at the port of Cartagena — the port’s largest drug seizure in a decade, President Abelardo de la Espriella announced this week.
The cocaine was concealed in a shipping container among powdered panela, an unrefined cane sugar, in what the presidency described as an attempt to evade detection. The operation was run by the National Police’s anti-narcotics directorate (DIRAN) under the Esmeralda strategy, in coordination with the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which confirmed the seizure through its Special Investigative Unit and Bogotá office.
In a post on X on 20 October, De la Espriella revealed the shipment was bound for the Netherlands. He said the haul stripped more than COP 42 billion from criminal finances and kept more than 19 million doses off the streets; the DEA put the shipment’s street value at about US$42 million.
The president also claimed security forces had seized 132 tonnes of cocaine, valued at US$6.108 billion, in the first 75 days of his government.
Separately, Dutch authorities confirmed that two Dutch nationals — aged 36 and 65 and named by Colombian prosecutors as Ronny and Ulrich — were arrested in Cali on 16 October and Medellín on 19 October at the Netherlands’ request, on suspicion of large-scale cocaine trafficking. Neither authority has linked the arrests to the Cartagena seizure.
Sources
- Daily Guardian Europe, “Colombia seizes 7.6 tonnes of Netherlands-bound cocaine at Cartagena port”, 2026-10-21: https://dailyguardian.eu/colombia-seizes-7-6-tonnes-of-netherlands-bound-cocaine-at-cartagena-port/
- EconoTimes, “Colombian President Says 7.6-Tonne Cocaine Seizure Is Cartagena’s Biggest in 10 Years”, 2026-10-22: https://econotimes.com/Colombian-President-Says-7-6-Tonne-Cocaine-Seizure-Is-Cartagena-s-Biggest-in-10-Years-1759855
- The City Paper Bogotá, “Colombia Seizes 7.6 Tonnes of Cocaine in Cartagena’s Biggest Port Bust”, 2026-10-21: https://thecitypaperbogota.com/news/colombia-seizes-7-6-tonnes-of-cocaine-in-cartagenas-biggest-port-bust/
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