Record drug seizure

last updated 8 January 2015

Santa Cruz, Bolivia

Bolivian police seized 5 tons of cocaine worth $300 million this week, in the largest narcotics roundup in the country’s history. The biggest part of the two-day haul—3 tons—was found mixed in with a shipment of instant mashed potatoes bound for Spain. Two dozen people were arrested. “This is only the beginning,” said a government minister. Bolivia has made considerable headway in the drug war by eradicating thousands of acres of coca, the plant used to make cocaine, in a crackdown largely funded by the U.S. But drug traffickers have regrouped recently, and farmers have begun resisting government agents who come to hack down their plants.