AKIPRESS.COM - Police in Costa Rica have made the biggest seizure of illegal drugs in the country's history - finding more than five tonnes of cocaine in a shipping container, BBC reports.

The drugs were hidden in a consignment of flowers headed for the Netherlands, AFP news agency quoted Interior Minister Michael Soto Rojas as saying.

A suspect has been arrested.

Central America is one of the main routes for cartels moving drugs from South America to the US and Europe.

When the authorities searched a suspicious shipping container on Saturday, they discovered 202 suitcases containing a total of 5,048 packages of cocaine weighing around 1 kg (2.2 lbs) each, AFP reports.

The arrested suspect is a 46-year-old Costa Rican.