Six suspects were arrested after 860 pounds of cocaine were found in the Russian Embassy in Buenos Aires, Argentina last week. Among those detained were a former Russian diplomatic official and an Argentine police officer. The drugs are said to have a Russian street value of about $61 million.
In 2016, the Russian ambassador to Argentina, along with three members of the Russian federal security service, reported suspicious luggage found at a school located in an annex to the embassy. Inside sixteen pieces of luggage local authorities found the cache of cocaine, which they then replaced with flour, keeping the baggage in place.
They also inserted a tracking device into one of the suitcases that was used to ship the luggage to Russia, its final destination. The bags containing the flour traveled to Russia in 2017, along with three Argentine customs officials who monitored the shipment. Two of the suspects were arrested when they went to pick up the luggage.
According to authorities, one of the plot’s leaders remains at large.