$317 MILLION WORTH OF COCAINE SEIZED, SERBIAN NATIONAL ARRESTED

MONROVIA, JULY 24 /SRNA-Reuters/ - Nearly four tonnes of cocaine worth around 317 million dollars, intended for the European market, have been seized in Liberia, and one of those arrested holds a Serbian passport, Inspector General of the Liberia National Police Gregory Coleman said.

"Two people were arrested, one holding Spanish and Colombian passports, and the other holding a Serbian passport," Coleman said.

In one of the largest operations aimed at preventing drug trafficking in the West African country, police found 3,971 kilograms of cocaine in the city of Duazon, east of the capital Monrovia.

According to him, chemical analysis and examination of the markings are required to identify the country of origin.

Video footage and photographs released by police show a house filled with cardboard boxes and suitcases wrapped in transparent plastic, bearing the markings "Coco" and "Poseidon."

Drug traffickers often use West African countries as transit points for smuggling large quantities of cocaine from South America to Europe.

Last month, Liberian authorities seized 237.6 kilograms of cocaine with an estimated street value of 19 million dollars at Roberts International Airport near Monrovia.

That shipment arrived from Sierra Leone and was intended for the United Kingdom market.

"It was linked to Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers," Coleman added.

Coleman told Reuters that police had not established a connection between the two cases and that they believed the cocaine originated from different sources.