Police in Mexico City have seized a shipment of 1.6 tons of cocaine from Colombia in the biggest bust the Mexican capital has ever seen.

The huge operation pulled over two trailer trucks and a car escorting them along a highway leading away from the city on 26th July .

Secretariat of Public Security spokesperson Omar Garcia Harfuch said: “We are talking about the largest seizure of cocaine in Mexico City by far.”

Police discovered the drugs stashed in hidden compartments around the trailers.

According to the preliminary investigation, the shipment came from Colombia and arrived in Puerto Escondido in the state of Oaxaca.

The drugs were then transported by road to Mexico City where the suspects planned to distribute some in the neighbourhood of Tepito in the heart of the capital.

It was understood to be the first step on the road to trafficking the cocaine across the US border to Los Angeles.

Police arrested four suspects who come from the state of Durango. Three of them have criminal records.

Harfuch said the detainees belong to criminal organisations based in Durango and the neighbouring state of Sinaloa.

This is the second major operation against drug cartels to take place in Mexico City so far this month.

Two weeks ago, a heavy police deployment in the south of the city resulted in the arrest of 14 suspects and release of two kidnapping victims as well as the capture of weapons and drugs.

Of those arrested, four have been released. The others remain in prison on suspicion of belonging to the powerful Sinaloa Cartel.