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450 cocaine bricks worth $38M found at Philadelphia port

Published March 21. 2019 09:57PM

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — U.S. customs officials say drug dogs sniffed out 450 bricks of cocaine in Philadelphia, the city’s largest seizure of the drug in more than two decades.

Local, state and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday the cocaine was found inside 13 duffel bags in a shipping container. Customs and Border Protection’s Area Port Director for Philadelphia Joseph Martella says Tuesday’s seizure amounted to more than 1,185 pounds (538 kilograms) of cocaine worth about $38 million.

Martella says the ship was ported in Guatemala before stopping in the Bahamas and was destined for the Netherlands. It wasn’t clear where the cocaine was headed or where it was added to the shipment.

It was Philadelphia’s largest seizure since 1998.

Last month, customs agents seized 3,200 pounds of cocaine worth $77 million at Port New York/Newark.

This image provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows cocaine seized from a shipping container at the Philadelphia seaport. U.S. customs officials say drug dogs sniffed out Philadelphia’s largest seizure of cocaine in more than two decades. Local, state and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday that 450 bricks of cocaine were found inside 13 duffel bags in the shipping container. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)
In this March 2019 image provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents peer into a shipping container that transported large duffle bags of seized cocaine, at the Philadelphia seaport. Local, state and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday, March 21, 2019, that 450 bricks of cocaine were found inside 13 duffel bags in the shipping container. (U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)
This March 2019 image provided by U.S. Customs and Border Protection shows large duffle bags containing cocaine that were seized in a shipping container at the Philadelphia seaport. Local, state and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday, March 21, 2019, that 450 bricks of cocaine were found inside 13 duffel bags in the shipping container.(U.S. Customs and Border Protection via AP)