Maltese authorities seized more than 600kg (1,300 lbs) of cocaine being sent to Libya in a record-breaking haul worth some 70 million euros ($85 million), the customs department said on Thursday.

The cocaine was being shipped from Ecuador and Columbia and was discovered hidden in a container on a ship at Malta Freeport late on Wednesday, the department said in a statement. Police have opened an investigation.

Customs said officials had seized 510 packets weighing 1.2kg each in what it described as a record-breaking seizure from a single container.

"To get a better perspective, during the whole of 2019 a total of 750kg (worth 84.5 million euro) were intercepted by Customs.