Operation Sweetness: Four tonnes of cocaine found stashed in sugar

The drugs were seized at the port of Caacupemi in Asuncion (AP)

More than four tonnes of cocaine have been found stashed inside a shipment of sugar bound for Belgium in the biggest ever drugs bust in Paraguay’s history.

President Santiago Pena told journalists that the record discovery, code-named “Operation Sweetness”, added to a string of “very sad episodes” in Paraguay that have transformed the strategically located nation into a key drug trafficking hub in the region.