Drug smuggling

Huge $38MILLION haul! Federal agents seize 450 cocaine bricks containing 1,200 pounds of the drug stuffed in DUFFEL BAGS on a cargo ship in Philadelphia

Sniffer dogs uncovered 450 bricks of cocaine in Philadelphia, the city's largest seizure of the drug in more than two decades.

Local, state and federal law enforcement officials said Thursday the cocaine was found inside 13 duffel bags in a shipping container. 

Customs and Border Protection's Area Port Director for Philadelphia Joseph Martella says Tuesday's seizure amounted to more than 1,185 pounds of cocaine worth about $38million.

Martella says the ship was ported in Guatemala before stopping in the Bahamas and was destined for the Netherlands.

Bricks of the narcotic were stuffed in duffel bags found in a shipping container filled with liquid rubber aboard the MSC Desiree, which was traveling from Colombia to Europe, 

Based on their historical data, and the area where it left from and went through being considered a 'high-risk area,' the container was searched by a K-9 unit on Tuesday and the drugs were found. 

The container was brought to the Port of Philadelphia on North Delaware Avenue.