4,620 Pounds of Cocaine Held at Florida Port

Federal authorities said Wednesday that 4,620 pounds of cocaine had been found in a tractor-trailer container aboard a Venezuelan freighter--reportedly the largest cocaine seizure in U.S. history.

Drug Enforcement Administration officials said the cocaine is worth $46.2 million wholesale and 10 times that amount on the street.

“We believe this to be the largest seizure of cocaine in the United States,” Miami DEA Director Diogenes Galanos said. But he added: “It will not make a significant impact, however big it is.”

No arrests have been made in the Florida case, Galanos said. He said announcement of the Oct. 17 find was delayed because the investigation is continuing.

The smuggled cocaine arrived at the Port of Palm Beach on Oct. 9 aboard the freighter Malargo I from La Guaira, Venezuela.

Find Hidden Compartment

Two 40-foot-long containers, the kind that are attached to truck tractors for overland haul, were labeled as carrying household furniture.

U.S. Customs inspectors found a hidden compartment in one that held cardboard boxes, taped shut, filled with cocaine.

The previous record of 3,940 pounds of cocaine was discovered at Miami International Airport in 1982 in the cargo of a TAMPA Airlines cargo plane that had arrived from Colombia.

In another case Wednesday, police in Salt Lake City arrested at least 20 people on charges of smuggling 61 pounds of cocaine from Colombia and Bolivia. They also confiscated expensive cars, about $200,000 in cash and attached or seized homes and businesses. U.S. Attorney Brent Ward said that “at least 150 federal, state and local agents have been sweeping through this city, making arrests by the dozen, seizing Ferraris, Maseratis, Porsches and Mercedes-Benz automobiles.”

Officials estimated the drug’s worth at $2 million.