ROME : European authorities say they have seized 270 kilograms (595 pounds) of heroin in Genoa’s port and allowed part of it to travel on, under police surveillance, to its final destination in the Netherlands where two people were arrested.
Eurojust, the European agency that coordinates cross-border investigations, called the drug bust the largest in Genoa in 20 years.
Police say the heroin was camouflaged in bags of bentonite, a clay powder used in skincare products, which was transported from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas aboard a tanker named Artabaz.
Genoa authorities seized the shipment Oct. 17, but allowed part of it to continue on. Authorities followed the container truck through Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Belgium before it arrived at an abandoned warehouse in Roosendal, Netherlands on Nov. 2.
