PHILADELPHIA (KYW Newsradio) — The U.S. Department of Homeland Security is leading the investigation into this week's big cocaine discovery at the Port of Philadelphia.
At the U.S. Custom House in Old City, Philadelphia, on Thursday, law enforcement officials had stacked 450 bricks of cocaine wrapped in brown cellophane on a table, as investigators explained how they discovered the contraband Tuesday onboard the Desiree, a Portguese-flagged container ship.
READ: $38 million worth of cocaine seized at Port of Philadelphia
"During an inspection of the shipping container, a [U.S. Customs and Border Protection> narcotics detective dog alerted us, and we discovered 13 large duffel bags," said CBP Director Joseph Martella says the cocaine weighed nearly 1,200 pounds and had a street value of approximately $38 million. Investigators now want to find out who owns the drugs and in what port they were stashed.
You’re looking at nearly 1,200 lbs of cocaine seized by the Feds at the port of Phila this week. Street value approximately $38 million. @KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/M3upPvVQXX
— Paul Kurtz (@kurtzpaul)
March 21, 2019 "The container was laden in Guatamala, and the vessel hit the Bahamas and was continuing on, foreign. So at any port, at any point, the duffel bags could have been placed inside the containers," Martella said. "These vessels carry thousands of containers of various commodites from various countries."
Martella says this was the fourth-largest cocaine siezure of record in the Port of Philadelphia, and CBP's largest cocaine seizure in Philly in 21 years.
