Three Britons arrested in France's biggest ever cocaine bust "How can the cocaine shipment reach France and it gets taken out without going through the normal controls?" he asked. But opponents of Venezuela's leftist government raised the same question of the military personnel directing security at Maiquetia airport, and suggested the three officers detained were mere scapegoats. "Proof positive that the National Guard runs drugs out of Maiquetia," blared the headline of one well-known critical blog, Caracas Chronicles. Washington has for years accused the Venezuelan government of turning a blind eye to smuggling through its territory, which anti-drugs officials say is the departure point for more than half of the cocaine reaching Britain's streets. While Venezuela does not produce cocaine, its location and high levels of corruption make it a key trafficking route, and a number of high-ranking military and government officials, including former defence minister and ex-army chief General Henry Rangel, have been designated by the US Treasury as drug kingpins. President Nicolas Maduro and his deceased predecessor Hugo Chavez both dismissed those criticisms as politically motivated. Air France said it had launched an investigation into how the drugs came to be on board. "Pending the results of these investigations, immediate measures have been taken to enhance our checks of baggage and goods on departure from certain sensitive destinations," the airline said in a statement. French police Commander Mohamed Douhane, head of the Syngergie-officers police union, said an investigation had been launched to work out "if there was complicity either within Air France or inside the departure or arrival airports." The seizure was the result of cooperation between security forces in France, the Netherlands, Spain and Britain. "This marks the biggest seizure of cocaine ever made in mainland France as part of a judicial investigation," French Interior Minister Manuel Valls said this weekend.