Seized Cocaine Shipment Had Some Interesting Markers

Matt Vespa | May 26, 2023 3:35 PM

Peruvian police recently intercepted an odd narcotics shipment in the northern part of the country: "Nazi" cocaine. I'm not kidding. Fifty-eight kilos of cocaine packaged with swastikas was seized in the port city of Paita. According to the Associated Press, the drugs were found on a ship bearing the Liberian flag. The transport was reportedly shipping containers of asparagus. Upon searching the vessel, police found the cocaine in the ship's ventilation system. The final destination for the Nazi cocaine was Belgium (via Associated Press):

50 bricks of cocaine bearing Nazi symbols seized in Peru https://t.co/BYfPjPGKd6 pic.twitter.com/NSIaLyN1Tq
— New York Post (@nypost) May 26, 2023

Peruvian police seize 58kg of cocaine bearing pictures of Nazi flag https://t.co/j7XRHjkJVA
— The Guardian (@guardian) May 26, 2023

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.

CBS News added that Peruvian drug police confiscated 22 tons of cocaine in 2022. Not a shocking development, given that the nation is the second-largest drug producer. While it's not unusual for drug traffickers to have custom packaging, Peruvian law enforcement did say that ones with Nazi paraphernalia are a first.