Police in northern Peru port seize cocaine packets with Nazi flag printed on the outside
In this photo provided by the Peruvian Anti-Drug Police, an officer shows blocks of cocaine marked with Nazi swastikas and stamped with the name "HITLER", at the port of Paita, Piura region, Peru, Thursday, May 25, 2023. The police found more than 50 blocks of cocaine that were stashed in a container destined for a ship that was sailing for Belgium. Credit: AP
LIMA, Peru — Peruvian anti-drug police seized 58 one-kilo packages of cocaine Thursday bearing a picture of a Nazi flag on the outside and the name Hitler printed in low relief.
The discovery occurred in the port of Paita, on Peru's northern Pacific coast close to its border with Ecuador.
The drugs were hidden inside a shipping container carrying asparagus on the Liberian-flagged vessel SC Anisha R that had earlier anchored in the Ecuadorian port of Ecuador, according to a police report obtained by The Associated Press. It said the shipment was destined for a port in Belgium.
The Peruvian police’s anti-drug directorate showed videos and photographs to AP revealing that the drugs were inside the ventilation system of a container. Police continued to search the more than 80 containers on the vessel.
Peruvian authorities have previously reported finding cocaine in brick-shaped packages with various and strange symbols, but never with one of the flag of Nazi Germany.
Authorities in Peru estimate that the country produces around 100 tons of drugs per year and most leave for Europe by sea, but also through small planes that carry cocaine to Bolivia, on its way to Atlantic ports.
Peru is the world’s second-largest grower of coca leaf, according to the United Nations, and the world’s second-largest producer of cocaine, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.
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