*BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA: Police have seized nearly 400 kilos of cocainefrom the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires and arrested several members of adrug trafficking gang, Argentina’s security minister announced Thursday.*
Patricia Bullrich told a press conference that the drugs discovered in anannex of the embassy had a street value of around 50 million euros (about$62 million).
“A gang of narco-criminals was trying to use the diplomatic courier serviceof the Russian embassy” to ship the drugs to Europe, she said.
She told reporters that Russian and Argentine police had decided to mount asting operation after the Russian ambassador informed them of the drugsfind in December 2016.
“The cocaine was replaced by flour and monitoring devices were placed tomonitor delivery” of the 16 bags of the drug, Bullrich said. She said thesting had resulted in the arrest of five suspects — two in Argentina andthree in Russia.
The drug, of “very high purity,” was destined for Russia and probably alsoGermany, where the suspected mastermind lives. “We believe the Germanpolice will arrest this fugitive,” Bullrich said.
The minister said Russian security service agents “came to Argentina onthree occasions to assist in the investigation”, which took more than ayear.
One of the two people arrested in Argentina is a naturalized Russian whowas a member of the police force in Buenos Aires, said Bullrich.
Investigators believe the cocaine likely originated in Colombia or Peru.