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By Natalie Venegas
Weekend Reporter
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Paraguayan authorities on Tuesday announced the seizure of four tons of cocaine in what the Associated Press (AP) called the largest cocaine bust in the country's history.
According to the AP, officials in Paraguay found the more than four tons of cocaine—valued at approximately $240 million—concealed within a shipment of sugar that was intended to go to Belgium.
The drug bust operation began on Monday when agents from Paraguay's anti-drug agency, Senad, started inspecting shipping containers filled with 40-kilogram (88-pound) sacks of sugar at Puerto Caacupemi, a river port in Asunción, the AP reported.
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The seizure, coined "Operation Sweetness," is part of a larger crackdown attempting to battle Paraguay's rise in recent years as a hub in the international drug trade. In 2019, Paraguay authorities seized more than two tons of cocaine, which had previously been the largest seizure of the drug in the country's history.
Newsweek reached out to Senad via email on Tuesday for comment.
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It is not clear where the cocaine confiscated during Operation Sweetness was made, but Paraguay does not produce the drug. However, countries nearby such as Bolivia, Colombia and Peru have cultivated the coca plant, which is the base for cocaine.
According to figures by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), Colombia was responsible for almost two thirds of the total coca cultivation area in 2022. Peru came in second, while Bolivia ranked third.
Speaking to the press on Tuesday, Paraguayan President Santiago Peña promised further efforts to boost port security and said he hopes Operation Sweetness would impede cocaine traffickers.
"I think it sends a signal to organized gangs not to use Paraguay as transit; they're going to find authorities that are determined and working in a coordinated way," Peña said, according to the AP. "Gangs are not going to be able to avoid all the controls that we are implementing."
Along with an increase in drug activity, Paraguay in recent years has also seen more smuggling of various contraband, including cigarettes and luxury goods.
"Geographically, Paraguay has a strategic position for organized crime in the sense that we are located near the largest cocaine producers in the world," Francisco Ayala, the spokesperson for Senad, told the AP. "It has a globally recognized river traffic system...it's perfect."
The cocaine bust comes as Paraguay's government has begun collaborating with UNODC to address the challenges posed by synthetic drugs and new psychoactive substances, including synthetic opioids, according to the IP Paraguay news agency.
IP reported "authorities have identified that new psychoactive substances are frequently marketed as other drugs or mixed with them, posing a significant public health risk."
As a step in addressing the issue, UNODC and Paraguay's government will hold a workshop in the coming days to outline strategies to combat synthetic drugs.
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