DHAKA: French police have seized a record haul of 1.3 tonnes of pure cocaine found on board an Air France passenger plane.

France interior minister Manuel Valls announced, reports The Straits Times.

The drugs, seized on September 11, had been packed into 30 suitcases, Valls told a news conference on Saturday in Nanterre, outside Paris, adding that this was the biggest-ever haul in metropolitan France.

A source close to the investigation said the flight had originated in the Venezuelan capital Caracas, adding that the cocaine had a street value of some 200 million euros.

The operation was carried out in collaboration with Spanish, British and Dutch police, and Valls said ‘several members of a criminal organisation’ had been arrested.

BDST: 1657 HRS, SEPT 22, 2013
RoR/RK