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A Russian diplomatic official and an Argentine police officer are among those arrested. AP/PA Images

Nearly 400kg of cocaine was found inside the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires

The drugs had a street value of around $50 million.

POLICE HAVE SEIZED nearly 400 kilos of cocaine from the Russian embassy in Buenos Aires and arrested several members of a drug trafficking gang, Argentina’s security minister announced.

Patricia Bullrich told a press conference that the drugs discovered in an annex of the embassy had a street value of around $50 million.

“A gang of narco-criminals was trying to use the diplomatic courier service of the Russian embassy to ship the drugs to Europe,” she said.

She told reporters that Russian and Argentine police had decided to mount a sting operation after the Russian ambassador informed them of the drugs find in December 2016.

“The cocaine was replace by flour and monitoring devices were placed to monitor delivery” of the 16 bags of the drug, Bullrich said. She said the sting had resulted in the arrest of five suspects — two in Argentina and three in Russia.

The drug, of “very high purity,” was destined for Russia and probably also Germany, where the suspected mastermind lives. “We believe the German police will arrest this fugitive,” Bullrich said.

The minister said Russian security service agents “came to Argentina on three occasions to assist in the investigation” that took more than a year.

One of the two people arrested in Argentina is a naturalized Russian who was a member of the police force in Buenos Aires, said Bullrich.

Investigators believe the cocaine likely originated in Colombia or Peru.

© – AFP 2018

Read: Man (19) arrested after €500,000 cocaine seizure in Kildare >

Read: Portuguese police detain man after finding cocaine inside fake arse >

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    Mute GerryCummins
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    Jul 9th 2019, 11:28 PM

    How do you stop a tram weighing X tons if someone steps out in front of it? Rip to the victim but wishing the driver the best of recovery from an unavoidable tradgedy also!

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    Mute Leroy Brown
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    Jul 9th 2019, 11:41 PM

    @GerryCummins: horrible for both the driver and the girl that was killed… neither will come back from this :(

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    Mute Louise Reid Mc Hugh
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    Jul 10th 2019, 9:05 AM

    @GerryCummins: the woman was already lying on the track she didn’t just fall out in front of it. May she rest in peace & let’s not forget about the tram driver in this very sad situation.

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    Mute Honeybee
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    Jul 9th 2019, 11:07 PM

    The area in question between Fatima stop and St James’s is indeed a dark and poorly lit area as the Luas travels on a grassy bank around a bend into darkness before coming in to the public area in front of the hospital.The driver is correct and this is borne out by the recommendations that drivers use full beams on this stretch of track.

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    Mute Martin Mc Donagh
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    Jul 9th 2019, 10:30 PM

    Rip.

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    Mute John Kelly
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    Jul 10th 2019, 8:21 AM

    Very sad for all involved..

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