CARACAS – The smuggling of 1.4 tons of cocaine in 31 suitcases on an Air France flight from Caracas to Paris has led to nine arrests on two continents, and Venezuela’s top police official said Monday that he expects more arrests with airline workers suspected.

Yet the case, kept quiet for nearly two weeks by authorities, also lends credence to Washington’s accusations that Venezuela has become a major drug transit country due to high-level corruption in its military. It controls Simon Bolivar International Airport, the drugs’ port of departure.

French Interior Minister Manuel Valls praised the investigation that led to six arrests in France and three in Venezuela. But he questioned how nearly three dozen suitcases stuffed with illicit drugs could get through security at a major airport and make it aboard a single commercial flight.

“It’s not normal that you can carry more than a ton of cocaine on an Air France plane,” he said Monday on Europe-1 radio. “The fight against drugs requires all the players, notably transport companies, to participate in this cooperation.”

Valls said police knew where and to whom the drugs were heading but wouldn’t divulge the information or provide details on who was arrested.

His Venezuelan counterpart, Miguel Rodriguez, said “mafias comprised of Italian and English citizens” were involved and that French police had been tracking them since July.

On Sunday, police arrested two Venezuelan National Guard sergeants and the lieutenant assigned to counterdrug duties at the airport when the incident occurred and Rodriguez said authorities “presume complicity at the airline.” He noted that each of the 31 suitcases would have been far over the usual maximum baggage weight allowed at an average of more than 40 kg each.