Guatemala announces record cocaine seizure

The Guatemalan coast guard has made a record seizure of nearly four tons of cocaine being transported by ship, the military said on Tuesday. A patrol spotted the vessel at sea Monday, leading it to speed up in a getaway bid. The boat was, however, stranded on a Caribbean beach, where its crew fled.

On board the ship, officers found 157 bags containing a total of 3,905 one-kilogram packets of cocaine. The Guatemalan military has seized 11 metric tons of cocaine so far this year, a sharp uptick from the three metric tons seized in 2023, according to official data. These were the highest numbers since the UN started monitoring the trade in 2001.