Liquid cocaine boom in Medellin

arrest of eight people for the production and transport of liquid cocaine, as well as the discovery of 267 kilos of the substance in Medellin, indicate that the liquid form of the drug is an increasingly popular means of trafficking, El Espectador reports Friday.

Three foreigners were apprehended Thursday at Medellin's Jose Maria Cordova International Airport, after being found to have quantities of liquid cocaine inside their bodies.

According to Medellin's police commander, General Yesid Vasquez, liquid cocaine is the form that narco-traffickers have identified to be the most effective in evading the vigilance of authorities. Even their canine colleagues apparently find it almost impossible to detect the smell once it is diluted in a substance such as gasoline or wine.

Antioquia Police Commander Colonel Jose Avecedo noted that "with the help of a chemical they [the narco-traffickers] make the transformation [into liquid cocaine] and, by ingesting it, the scanner detects it as if it were gas in the stomach, and in this way they try to deceive us to get the drugs through."

Earlier this week, police seized 276 kilos of liquid cocaine in Bello, a municipality north of Medellin, and are attempting to see if there is any link between the discovery and the foreigners arrested at the airport. The haul is alleged to belong to the "Sebastian" drug-trafficking organization, a local gang believed to control the majority of Medellin's drug market.

Authorities also recently dismantled an urban cocaine laboratory, one of four in Medellin this year, seizing a further 15 kilos and detaining five suspects in the process.

"It's not normal to find liquid cocaine in our country, let alone with purity such as this," said General Vasquez.

"Micro-trafficking," as internal narco-trafficking is referred to, is an expanding market that is fuelling the territorial wars being fought in various parts of Antioquia's capital. In Medellin alone it is estimated that cocaine sales amount to a monthly profit of $8 million.