JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP) -- Police have made what they believe is the largest cocaine seizure in South African history, confiscating hundreds of pounds of cocaine that had been dissolved in Colombian rum.
Police estimated that they seized 400-800 pounds of cocaine Tuesday night. The exact amount was not known because police haven't extracted it yet from the 11,600 bottles of Ron de Medellin rum it was mixed into.The central Colombian city was the home of the Medellin cartel, a notorious, bloody drug syndicate that had its heyday in the 1980s until its leaders were killed or imprisoned.
At a minimum of 15 grams of cocaine per bottle, the rum would have been lethal to any person who drank it.
Police Inspector Frik Rabe said the shipment apparently originated in Medellin.
Informers had told police the cocaine was to be delivered to a Nigerian drug syndicate.