SLOVAK customs officials and policemen seized a record shipment of cocaine in early February. They uncovered 163.8 kilograms of the drug dissolved in bottled wine in a warehouse in the Dunajská Streda District, the ČTK newswire wrote. The street value of the drug is estimated at around Sk1.64 billion (€50 million).
"This is the biggest cocaine contraband ever seized in Slovakia," the first police vice-president Michal Kopčík said at a press conference on February 13.
Between 1998 and 2007, less than 14 kilograms of cocaine was seized in Slovakia. Until now, the largest amount seized by the police was 10 kilos in 1998.
The bottles with cocaine got into Slovakia through two containers from Argentina via the German port Hamburg.
The customs officials probably detained the illegal drug by chance when the content of the bottles looked suspicious to them.
"There is a presumption that the cocaine was destined for the European Union market, but not for Slovakia," said the head of the Customs Criminal Office Jozef Dudáš.
