SAO PAULO, Aug 14 — Brazilian authorities said yesterday they seized 1.32 metric tonnes of cocaine aboard an Italian-flagged ship in Brazil’s main port of Santos, near Sao Paulo.

“The drugs were divided into 1,202 tablets distributed in 41 sacks” in two containers on the Grande Francia ship, which had arrived from Argentina, the customs department said.

According to G1 news site, the ship was attacked by pirates on Sunday.

However it was unclear whether the incident was connected to the drugs discovery.

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The federal police in Santos said that a pirate incident had occurred but targeting a different vessel.

“We are working on the case,” the police said in a statement.

The customs service said that so far this year it has intercepted 13,518kg of drugs in 27 operations at Santos port, the biggest in Latin America.

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This is more than the total seized in 2017. — AFP