RIO DE JANEIRO (JTA) — An Israeli man was arrested trying to cross the Brazilian border with Bolivia carrying cocaine valued at nearly half a million dollars stashed in the fake bottoms of two suitcases.
Brazilian customs officials stopped the man, whose name was not released, as he approached the border riding in a taxi in the city of Corumba on Wednesday evening. The Israeli told the officers he was taking the cocaine to Israel, where it would be sold for $80,000 per kilo, the regional newspaper Correio de Corumba reported. He had nearly 6 kilograms of the drug.
The Israeli man will be charged with international drug trafficking.
Corumba is located in the central portion of Brazil, thousands of miles from the capital city of Brasilia and the largest cities of Sao Paulo and Rio.
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