PJ police are investigating how a TAP flight from Caracas (Venezuela) came to be loaded with 51.3 kgs of cocaine “in a high state of purity”, with a street value of around €5 million.
The haul was discovered last week, “packed into the walls of the hold” in such a way that “it could have compromised flight safety”.
According to reports, the drug was stashed “very close to the (plane’s) electrical supply”.
National tabloid Correio da Manhã has picked the story up saying that for now there have been no arrests, though police are working on the basis that the only people with access to the hold would have been baggage handlers and mechanics.
TAP meantime is “giving authorities all the support they need so that the investigation can continue”.
CM adds that flight crew are very wary of putting baggage in holds during flights to and from Venezuela, as the country is notorious for drug trafficking.
Police have told the paper that if the drug had been successfully removed, it would have gone on to supply other countries.
