Colombian authorities seize nearly 2 tons of cocaine in flights to Mexico

Mona, a drug-sniffing dog, sits after being decorated with a medal for detecting hidden narcotics, during a media presentation of seized cocaine, in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015. Police in Bogota's El Dorado airport were tipped off when Mona detected the narcotics hidden in 48 boxes of a 1-ton cargo shipment bound for a company in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Authorities quickly alerted their Mexican counterparts who then found a similar amount in a flight a few hours earlier to Mexico City. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

Police officers stand guard over seized packages of cocaine disguised as printer toner during a media presentation in Bogota, Colombia, Monday, Sept. 7, 2015. Police in Bogota's El Dorado airport were tipped off when a drug-sniffing dog detected the narcotics hidden in 48 boxes of a 1-ton cargo shipment bound for a company in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Authorities quickly alerted their Mexican counterparts who then found a similar amount in a flight a few hours earlier to Mexico City. (AP Photo/Fernando Vergara) (The Associated Press)

BOGOTA, Colombia – Authorities in Colombia and Mexico seized as much as 2 metric tons of cocaine disguised as printer toner in joint operations at the countries' two main airports.

Police in Bogota's El Dorado airport were tipped off when a drug-sniffing dog detected the narcotics hidden in 48 boxes of a 1-metric ton cargo shipment bound for a company in the Mexican state of Sinaloa. Authorities alerted their Mexican counterparts, who then found a similar amount sent a few hours earlier on a flight to Mexico City.

Colombia is the largest supplier of cocaine to the U.S. and much of the narcotic lands on American streets through Mexican drug cartels.

Authorities still need to extract the cocaine alkaloid from the toner powder in which it was hidden to determine its final weight.