marine link image
REGISTER NOW FOR the Port of the Future Conference • 2 Days, 50 Ports • Houston, TX • March 24–25, 2026

Colombia Seizes $265 Mln Worth of Cocaine at Port of Buenaventura

June 9, 2020

© Buenaventura / Adobe Stock
© Buenaventura / Adobe Stock

Colombian police on Tuesday seized cocaine with an estimated value of $265 million in shipping containers at the Pacific port of Buenaventura, a city on the Andean country's Pacific coast, a senior official reported.

Some 4.9 tonnes of the drug were seized in two containers at Colombia's most important Pacific port, anti-narcotics police director General Jorge Luis Ramirez said.

While there were no arrests, the operation represents the largest cocaine seizure in Colombia this year.

Authorities did not disclose the owner of the seized cocaine.

Colombia is a leading producer of cocaine, with output of around 951 tonnes a year and cultivations of coca - the drug's main ingredient - covering more than 200,000 hectares (494,211 acres), according to the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy.

Drug trafficking has long fed the Andean country's internal armed conflict. Leftist rebel group the National Liberation Army (ELN), dissidents from the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrillas - who demobilized under a 2016 peace deal - and criminal groups all make money from the trade, according to security sources.


(Reporting by Luis Jaime Acosta; Writing by Oliver Griffin; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)

Logistics News

IMPA Makes the Case Against Competition in Maritime Pilotage

IMPA Makes the Case Against Competition in Maritime Pilotage

Ports of Indiana Opens Ireland Trade Office

Ports of Indiana Opens Ireland Trade Office

Louisiana’s St. Bernard Port Report Confirms Strong Economic Impact

Louisiana’s St. Bernard Port Report Confirms Strong Economic Impact

America’s Ports, Harbors, and Waterways: Dredging, Resolve and the Will to Build

America’s Ports, Harbors, and Waterways: Dredging, Resolve and the Will to Build

Subscribe for Maritime Logistics Professional E‑News

Early findings indicate that the US-owned tanker near Iraq was attacked by unmanned vessels
Why is the port of Fujairah important to the oil industry?
India is seeking passage for other vessels that are stranded in the Strait of Hormuz area after a few have sailed through