Uruguay's authorities say they have seized a record haul of 4.4 tonnes of cocaine, calling it the biggest setback for drug traffickers in the country's history. The cocaine was confiscated in a joint operation between navy and customs officers in the port of Montevideo. It had been hidden in four soy flour containers destined for Lome, the capital of Togo. The drugs had a street value of about $1bn (￡765m), according to officials. Uruguay is increasingly being used as a transit point to move drugs from Latin America to Africa and Europe. The country's previous record haul was in November, when authorities uncovered a container with three tonnes of cocaine, also in Montevideo, bound for Cotonou in Benin via the Spanish island of Tenerife. The 4.4 tonnes found recently came to light when scanners at Montevideo's port showed "anomalies" in the containers, officials said.