Luxembourg authorities seized almost a ton of cocaine hidden in a stone crusher “of Colombian origin” in a record bust for the small European state, prosecutors said on Wednesday.
Police detained two suspects after they discovered white powder worth up to 160 million euros ($165 million) inside the machine on Thursday last week.
It took forensics police almost a week to extract all the packages stashed inside the crusher’s three rollers, after the apparatus was taken to a safe location for dismantling, officials said.
Luxembourg police released images showing armed officers standing behind dozens of packages of the alleged drugs. They said the cocaine “will be destroyed as soon as possible.”
Luxembourg Police
In total, authorities found “a little over 889 kilograms” of cocaine, the Grand Duchy’s public prosecutor’s office said.
The machine had just been delivered when it was intercepted, it added.
Authorities said the investigation was continuing and provided no details about those arrested.
Local media reported that the seizure took place at a farm in the north of the wealthy country nestled between France, Germany and Belgium.
Last month, a study found that cocaine use in France has nearly doubled, with 1.1 million people having taken the illicit drug at least once in 2023. France now ranks 7th in Europe in terms of cocaine consumption.
In November, Belgian authorities said they had seized almost five tons of cocaine stashed in shipping containers at Antwerp port, as part of a cross-border investigation into a drug-trafficking ring. Antwerp’s port is one of the major gateways for drugs smuggled from South America to the European market, and busts in and around the vast facility occur frequently.
Most of the world’s cocaine is produced in Colombia. Cocaine production in Colombia reached a record-high in 2023, jumping 53 percent to 2,600 tons, according to the U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime.
