Colombia seizes cocaine lollies

Colombian smugglers have found novel ways to avoid detection

Colombian drug traffickers have developed a sweet tooth, concealing cocaine inside lollipops that were destined for the US market.

Police at Bogota airport seized a package of 215 "Bon-Bon-Bum" lollies bound for New York and discovered the traditional bubble-gum centres had been replaced with cocaine.

"This is the first time we have seen this method being used," said Colonel Mauricio Agudelo, head of the Bogota airport police.

"This is just another sign of the inventiveness of Colombia's drug traffickers."

Valuable sweets

Each lollipop was filled with about 21 grams (0.75 ounces) of pure cocaine with a US street value of as much as $7,000.

A total of about 4.5 kg (10 pounds) of cocaine was concealed in the lollipops, which had been made in the northwestern city of Medellin, once a stronghold of drugs baron Pablo Escobar.

Genuine Bon-Bon-Bum lollipops, manufactured by Cali-based Colombina SA, are sold throughout the world.

No arrests have yet been made.

A member of the Colombian military's special anti-drugs forces

In the past Colombia's drug traffickers have tried to conceal cocaine in flower stems, mixed with cement and shaped into concrete fence posts, and even combined with plastics and made into dog kennels.

Colombia, the world's largest producer of cocaine and the fourth-largest heroin producer, has one of the world highest murder rates as a result of its violent drug gangs.

In November last year Colombia began to extradite drug barons to the US for the first time in nine years.

Drugs bosses had effectively forced the Colombian Government to abandon extradition in 1991 through a succession of bombings and assassinations.