US authorities said on Tuesday they had seized around 16 tonnes of cocaine with an estimated street value of over $1bn in a historic drug bust aboard a ship at the port of Philadelphia. "This is one of the largest drug seizures in United States history," tweeted William McSwain, the US attorney for the Eastern District of Philadelphia. "Members of the ship's crew have been arrested and federally charged" following the drug bust at Philadelphia's Packer Marine Terminal, McSwain's office said on Twitter. The United States, the world's largest consumer of illegal drugs, is also currently experiencing a deadly epidemic of opioid use. Deaths from drug overdoses in the United States hit an average of 197 a day in 2017, according to the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention.

Source: News 24 June 18, 2019 22:18 UTC