On Wednesday, the Russian Federal Customs Service (FTS) announced that they had successfully intercepted a shipment of cocaine weighing over a metric ton.
The drugs were discovered hidden inside a cargo container that had been transported from Nicaragua to the Port of Saint Petersburg.
The operation was a collaborative effort between the FTS and the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB), which is responsible for border security. A total of 1,000 bricks of pressed white powder, confirmed to be cocaine through laboratory tests, were seized from the vessel. The FTS provided the exact weight of the batch as 1,001 kilograms and 260 grams.
However, there were conflicting reports regarding the street value of the drugs. While a social media press release estimated the value at 11 billion rubles ($123.2 million), a spokesperson mentioned in a video statement that it was worth 8 billion rubles ($89.6 million) on the black market.
This discrepancy could be attributed to the difference between the projected wholesale price and the potential earnings from selling it through dealers.
The FTS also shared images of the intercepted drugs, revealing packages labeled with the names ‘Dior’ and ‘BBB’. In a satirical move, they released a photo of a perplexed cat covered in powder, mocking the use of a high-end fashion label to mark the cocaine.
This recent seizure follows previous successful operations by the FSB, including the confiscation of 699 kilograms of cocaine in the Moscow Region last April and the interception of a 673kg shipment in Moscow in December, which was destined for Europe.
