VENEZUELAN COCAINE HAUL RISES TO RM3.04B

UPATA (Venezuela): Venezuelan officials have unearthed another 2.5 tonnes
of cocaine in a raid on an isolated farm, bringing the total haul in a
week-long operation to nearly 10 tonnes worth more than US$800mil
(RM3.04bil) on the streets of Europe, officials said on Thursday.

National Guard officials said the new haul was the third in a series of
drug busts that have seen about 20 people arrested from a ring dedicated to
smuggling Colombian cocaine to Europe through Venezuela's sparsely
populated northeastern seaboard.

The total haul, the largest in Venezuela's history, is a major coup for the
South American country that the United States accused of being a sanctuary
for drug traffickers after it refused to allow US anti-drug planes to use
its airspace.

The latest seizure was pulled on Wednesday from two camouflaged pits
surrounded by crocodile-infested lagoons and tropical rain forest on a
large cattle farm 15km from the small town of Upata in southeastern Bolivar
state, officials said.

National Guard anti-drug units made the bust after capturing two men who
fled during a raid on another drugs hideaway last week.

"Once we caught them, they led us straight to the spot,'' said Col Jose
Paez, second-in-command of the National Guard anti-narcotics unit.

The raids capped an eight-month investigation, dubbed Orinoco 2000, that
was financed by the US Drug Enforcement Agency and also involved
anti-narcotics agents from Britain, Colombia, France, Greece, Italy and Panama.

Five tons of cocaine were found last week on a wooden platform at the mouth
of the Orinoco River Delta on Venezuela's eastern Atlantic coast while
another two tons was found on Tuesday.