Anti-drug police in landlocked Paraguay said they seized 1,700 kilos (3,750 pounds) of cocaine at a remote site on the border with Brazil and arrested 19 suspects.
“This is possibly the largest shipment ever seized up to now,” the head of the country’s anti-drug force, Francisco de Vargas, said on Telefuturo TV network.
Among those arrested was Paraguay’s most wanted criminal, Ezequiel de Souza, who was carrying both Brazilian and Paraguayan identification papers.
Police found the drugs at an indigenous community known as La Paloma, located 600 kilometres northeast of the capital Asuncion.
The police, who busted the traffickers on Saturday, at first said they found 600 kilos of cocaine, but upon further searching they found additional packages containing the white powdery drug.
“There may be more,” De Vargas added.