Uruguay’s National Police announced the interception of a parcel containing surfboards filled with cocaine bound for Portugal.
This operation was joint with Portuguese, Italian, and Spanish authorities.
During a routine check of international courier parcels on May 23, a shipment aroused suspicion due to its heavy weight.
A subsequent search warrant and laboratory analysis confirmed that six surfboards concealed 50 kilos of cocaine within a package weighing 104 kilos.
The authorities employed a “controlled delivery” strategy to expose the criminal network behind the operation.
A single surfboard from the shipment was sent to Portugal.
Two Italians had transported the drugs overland from Brazil, dispatched the package, and then exited Uruguay.
One of them and two other Italians attempted to collect the shipment in Portugal on June 11 and were apprehended.
Uruguay is often used as a transit point by drug trafficking organizations moving cocaine from Andean countries to Europe.