China seizes record 1.3 tonnes of cocaine

BEIJING: Chinese police have seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine from South America in the country’s biggest ever haul of the drug, authorities said.

Police in the southern city of Shenzhen have detained 10 suspects, mostly from Hong Kong, following an investigation that began in July 2017, the Guangdong province public security department said. The statement, released on Tuesday, called it the "biggest amount of cocaine seized in the country".

The official Xinhua news agency said the massive haul had a street value of one billion yuan ($160 million). The drug came from an unidentified South American country and was shipped to the Guangdong port of Shanwei. The police statement, released on Tuesday, did not say whether the drug was destined for the Chinese market or another country, but cocaine use is low in China compared to other drugs.