Drug-sniffing dogs help find record haul of cocaine hidden aboard ship in South Korea in operation aided by FBI

South Korea discovered and seized two tons of cocaine hidden aboard a Norwegian-flagged vessel, authorities told AFP on Friday, marking the country’s largest drug bust to date.

The Korea Coast Guard said they had found two tons of what they suspect to be pure cocaine on a Norwegian-flagged ship which had departed from Mexico and made stops in Ecuador, Panama and China.

The operation was launched after South Korean authorities received intelligence from U.S. agencies — the FBI and Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) — that the vessel was carrying hidden narcotics.

The Korea Coast Guard and Korea Customs Service coordinated a large-scale search operation “consisting of a joint search team of 90 officers… along with two drug-sniffing dog units,” the Korea Coast Guard said.

After the vessel docked at an east coast port in South Korea, the team immediately boarded the vessel and “discovered a hidden compartment behind the ship’s engine room.”

The drugs were packed in 56 sacks, each holding some 30 to 40 kilograms (about 66 to 88 pounds) of the drug, authorities said, bringing the total haul to around two tons.

“Preliminary field tests confirmed the substances as suspected cocaine,” the Korea Coast Guard official told AFP.

“The seizure is the largest in history, about five times bigger than the previous record which was 404 kilograms of methamphetamine,” a Korea Customs Service official told AFP.

The estimated street value is $697 million, they added.

Authorities have launched a joint investigation team to question the vessel’s captain and crew about the origin and intended destination of the drugs, and the route used to transport them.

Investigators also said they are looking into potential ties to international drug trafficking syndicates and will expand cooperation with the FBI and HSI.

South Korea has long ranked among the countries with low drug use globally, thanks to its strict laws and strong social stigma.

The operation follows other major cocaine seizures on ships — and in the open seas — around the globe this year. Just last week, Portugese police said officers recently confiscated nearly 6.5 tons of cocaine from a semi-submersible vessel, or so-called “narco sub,” intercepted off the Azores while bound for the Iberian peninsula.

In February,  divers in Poland discovered more than 220 pounds of cocaine on the bottom of the Baltic Sea. That same month, a semi-submersible vessel loaded with over 5,000 pounds of cocaine was intercepted off the Pacific coast of Colombia.