BOGOTA, July 13 (Reuter)  Police in northern Colombia seized 17 tons of
marijuana that had been stashed in powdered milk cans for shipment to the
United States, authorities said on Sunday. 

A police spokesman said the marijuana was torched on Saturday after it was
discovered hidden in a junglecovered area of the Tayrona nature reserve near
the Caribbean port of Santa Marta. 

The marijuana was apparently going to be dumped by speedboats off Colombia's
coast and then picked up by larger vessels that were set to smuggle it into
the United States, the spokesman said. 

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