Drug smuggling

200 pounds of cocaine, an aristocrat and a worldwide smuggling practice

The MSC Letizia, a container ship, set sail from Santos Port bearing familiar bounties of Brazil such as sugar and coffee.

But nesting amidships on that Friday in June was one container, MEDU3333950, that would carry a different kind of cargo all the way to East Africa.

Its secret load: 200 pounds of cocaine.

The story of MEDU3333950 might have ended there, with a quick seizure by local authorities or an unremarkable arrest, except for this: It has entangled a young Brit of noble birth and a storied London commodities house in a web of global trade and illicit drugs.

And the roundabout journey those drugs apparently took has trained a harsh spotlight on an open secret in the commodities game: Increasingly, smugglers are using industry shipping networks to spirit contraband around the world.