Ton of cocaine found at French port hidden with palm hearts

PARIS — A French government official says customs agents found more than a ton of cocaine hidden in a shipment of palm hearts at the Normandy port of Le Havre.

Public Accounts Minister Gerald Darmanin said in a statement on Wednesday that the seizure was the biggest in France so far this year. He said the intercepted drugs had an estimated street value of more than 74 million euros ($82.4 million).

Darmanin says the cocaine was found wrapped in 15 burlap bundles inside a container of palm hearts and came from Ecuador to France via the Belgian port of Antwerp.

Last year, French customs agents seized 12.2 tons of cocaine, a 32.6% increase from the year before.

The Associated Press