More than one ton of cocaine worth $270 million was confiscated from a French airline’s plane in early September, French officials said Saturday.
During a news conference, France’s Interior Minister Manuel Valls said that on Sept. 11 authorities seized 1.3 tons of cocaine from an Air France cargo flight that arrived at Charles de Gaulle airport outside Paris, according to Agence France-Presse.
Valls showed 30 empty suitcases that he said had been full with $270 million worth of pure cocaine, and said this was the largest-ever drug bust in the Paris region, according to the French news service. Valls also said that four tons of cocaine have been confiscated in France since the start of 2013.
Spanish, British and Dutch police helped with the investigation, Valls said, adding that the discovery showed the "importance of strengthening international cooperation in the fight against traffickers," according to Al Jazeera.
The AFP reported that the flight came from Caracas, the capital of Venezuela, but was not linked to any passengers on the flight. “Several members of a criminal organization" have been arrested, said Valls.