Mexico doubles size of huge cocaine haul

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexico's discovery of a huge cocaine shipment from Colombia grew even larger on Thursday as the government more than doubled the size of the haul to 23 tons, making it one of the world's biggest drug busts.

Police, navy and customs officers found the drugs, the second major seizure in the past month, hidden between plastic floor-covering on a Hong Kong-flagged container ship at the Manzanillo port in Colima state on Tuesday.

They initially announced they found 11 tons but further searches of the ship revealed far more.

"So far, the haul amounts to more than 23 tons of cocaine. This is the biggest seizure of this drug in the country's history," the government said in a statement.

It was the latest blow to drug gangs since President Felipe Calderon deployed thousands of troops across Mexico to attack the dominant Gulf and Sinaloa cartels after taking office last December.

The seizure doubles the Mexican record, set only last month when soldiers found more than 11 tons of cocaine at the port of Tampico on the Atlantic coast.

Officials in Manzanillo have so far checked six containers on the Colombian boat, two of which were packed with cocaine divided into more than 21,000 packets. The search continues.

The seizure "is further proof of President Calderon's commitment to cripple drug lords and bring them to justice," U.S. Ambassador Antonio Garza said in a statement.

He put the value of the cocaine at $400 million.