The Special Prosecutor at the Court for the Repression of Economic Crimes and Terrorism (CRIET) informs in a statement that 2575.35 kg of cocaine were seized in a store in Ekpe PK10 (commune of Sèmè-Kpodji, about ten kilometers east of Cotonou) and 11 people arrested last week.

"In total, there were 2,240 platelets, one of which was already partially disaggregated. The total weight with packaging of this quantity of seized products is 2575.35 kilograms. The said store belongs to the Lebanese El Dorr Zafer and is currently rented by the Ivorian national Kipre Kouadio," the statement said. Those arrested are of Beninese, Togolese, Burkinabe, Dutch, Lebanese and German nationalities. "The first tests carried out, in situ by the team of the Central Office for the Suppression of Illicit Trafficking in Drugs and Precursors (OCERTID) always in the presence of suspects, were positive for the cocaine reagent. The investigations still ongoing and the subsequent procedure will make it possible to locate the responsibilities of all those arrested and their possible co-perpetrators or accomplices," the statement said.