The Guatemalan coast guard has made a historic drug bust, seizing nearly four tons of cocaine from a ship off the country's coast.
The vessel, which was spotted by a patrol, attempted to flee but was ultimately stranded on a Caribbean beach, where its crew escaped.
Authorities discovered 157 bags aboard the ship, containing a total of 3,905 one-kilogram packets of cocaine, according to military spokeswoman Ann Marie Argueta. This marks the largest cocaine seizure in Guatemala’s history and underscores the growing challenge of drug trafficking in the region.
So far this year, the Guatemalan military has seized a total of 11 metric tons (12.1 US tons) of cocaine, a significant increase from the three metric tons seized in 2023. This surge highlights the intensifying battle against drug trade routes that funnel narcotics through Central America and into the United States, which relies on Mexican and Central American channels for about 90% of its cocaine supply, according to U.S. officials.
Guatemala's record seizure comes amid rising global cocaine production. Colombia, the world’s largest producer of cocaine, reported a record output of approximately 2,600 tons of the drug in 2023, the highest since the UN began monitoring the trade in 2001.
