Big cocaine bust underscores growing local demand

Police have seized cocaine with an estimated street value of 36 million forints (EUR 132,000) and arrested two drug smuggling suspects who are liable to receive life sentences, an official of the Budapest police headquarters told MTI on Saturday.

A thirty-five-year-old Hungarian citizen who had arrived in the country from Spain and a thirty-one-year-old woman were stopped on Thursday at a hypermarket car park at the intersection of the M1 and M7 motorways, the head of the Budapest police drug squad said.

Thirteen bags, a kilo each of near-pure cocaine, were found hidden in the trunk of a car, said police-major Norbert Rodler.

The suspects have been put in pre-trial detention. They have been charged with smuggling drugs with an intent to deal, and could, if convicted, get life sentences. Both suspects deny the charge.

Rodler said the find was significant since cocaine was becoming an increasingly worrying problem in the capital. He added that, each year, the amount of the drug seized doubles.

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