Updated with Customs statement.

A huge shipment of cocaine originating from Colombia and Ecuador was seized by Customs officials on Wednesday.  

Sources told Times of Malta the shipment, valued at around €70 million, amounted to hundreds of kilos and but was not destined for Malta. 

A magisterial inquiry has been launched.  

Customs said overall, 510 packets were elevated weighing in at 1.2kg each.

The haul 612kg haul with a street value of some €69 million.

"This haul was a record breaker due to the high value and amount from a single container. To get a better perspective, during 2019 a total of 750kg (84.5  million euro) were intercepted by Customs from 16 containers," Customs said. 

The case was handed over to the Police Drug Squad for further investigations. 

Finance Minister Clyde Caruana announced the drugs bust in Parliament on Wednesday evening.

Caruana said the drugs seized were the equivalent to a year's worth of seizures and amounted to tens of millions of euro.