SAN JOSE, June 11 (Xinhua) -- Costa Rican police uncovered and seized nearly a ton of cocaine that was to be shipped as heart of palm, the judicial investigation agency (OIJ) said on Sunday.
Three suspects were also arrested for taking part in an armed robbery of a truck, and the death of a police officer.
In pursuing the suspects for robbing the truck, police were led to the site of the cache, which was packed in boxes hidden amid a banana plantation in Sarapiqui in northeast Costa Rica.
The three men had robbed a truck carrying a cargo of palm hearts, which they later planned to use to transport the drugs, police said, as the cocaine was "packed in boxes very similar to those that contained canned heart of palm."
Officer Federico Borbon, 37, was identified as the fatal victim, though the exact circumstances of his death were not reported.
The shipment of cocaine is estimated to be worth some 8 million U.S. dollars, based on the street price of a kilogram of cocaine, which sells for 8,000 dollars.
