The European authorities announced on Thursday that they seized a shipment weighing 270 kilograms of heroin from Iran at the Italian port of Genoa and allowed part of it to be transferred under police supervision to its final destination in the Netherlands, where two people were arrested.
The European Commission on the Coordination of Cross-Border Investigations (EUROGUST) described the operation as the largest in Genoa in 20 years.
Police said the heroin was hidden in bentonite bags, the mud powder used in skin care products, which was transferred from the Iranian port of Bandar Abbas aboard a tanker called Artabaz.
Authorities in Genoa seized the cargo on Oct. 17, but allowed part of it to continue the flight.
Transport authorities followed Switzerland, Luxembourg, France, Germany and Belgium before arriving at an abandoned warehouse in Rosendhal, the Netherlands, on Nov. 2.
