Agents make record cash seizure

The money, thought to belong to drug gangs, was found hidden in shipping containers at the ports of Manzanillo in Mexico and Buenaventura in Colombia.

The two ports are regularly used by drug traffickers to channel cocaine to the US and cash from drug sales back to the gangs' headquarters in Colombia.

It is one of the biggest ever cash seizures of its kind, officials said.

Chemicals

A total of about $41m in cash was seized in five separate raids last month.

On 9 September, Colombian customs officials aided by local police found $11.2m in two shipping containers on a boat bound for Buenaventura.

The cash was hidden in bags filled with ammonium sulphate, a chemical used to make fertiliser.

A further $11.2m was seized on 10 September, also in Colombia, and $11m of cash hidden in containers containing sodium sulphate was found on 11 September in Manzanillo by US customs agents.
 
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