Colombia and the United States seized over 7.5 tonnes of cocaine worth USD 286 million in a joint operation, the Colombian government said.

The narcotics were mixed with a construction product and were being transported between the Colombian port city of Cartagena and Panama, the government said in a statement.

The drugs “belonged to drug trafficking structures associated with the Gulf Clan organized armed group”, - it said, and were to be received by other criminal groups in Central America and Europe.