WASHINGTON ( CNN ) -- Mexican and Colombian officials working with U.S. agents have seized about $ 41 million in cash hidden in shipping containers , the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency announced Monday . Colombian authorities seized $ 11.2 million in U.S. currency in Buenaventura , Colombia , on September 9 . The U.S. agency , commonly called ICE , says the seizures were made September 9-18 . It called them the largest seizure of cash ever found in shipping containers destined for Colombia and the largest for the agency since its inception . According to ICE : . • On September 9 , Colombian customs inspectors and Colombian national police , acting on intelligence reports , seized $ 11.2 million in U.S. currency hidden in two shipping containers . The containers were aboard a vessel that sailed from the Port of Manzanillo , Mexico , and was headed to Buenaventura , Colombia . Colombian customs inspectors said it was the most cash ever seized by police at a port in the nation . • On September 10 , a second seizure of U.S. currency estimated at $ 11.2 million also was made at the Buenaventura port . • On September 11 , a shipment of $ 11 million was discovered hidden inside two shipping containers at the Port of Manzanillo . • On September 14 , ICE special agents , along with Colombian authorities , discovered three additional shipping containers in Buenaventura containing about $ 5 million in $ 100 and $ 50 bills . These shipping containers also originated in Manzanillo . • On September 18 , authorities seized $ 2.15 million in $ 100 bills concealed inside two containers aboard a vessel that arrived in Manzanillo . `` This seizure represents a bad day for organized crime , '' ICE Director John Morton said at a Monday news conference in Washington . `` Forty-one million dollars is not a rounding error . The loss of that kind of money hurts . '' All of the money was concealed in sacks of fertilizer chemicals in containers transported on commercial ships , Morton said . Watch investigators uncover cash » . `` When it 's packed in very large containers , it 's extremely difficult to probe ; it 's extremely difficult to X-ray . And so it was a very good means of concealing currency , '' he said . The ports of Buenaventura and Manzanillo are key points along a well-known route used for smuggling cocaine northward to Mexico and then on to the United States , and for sending cash back into Colombia , where most of the cocaine originates , ICE said in a news release . Morton called the smugglers `` very , very sophisticated , '' saying they were using the lawful shipping trade to send drug profits from the U.S. through Mexico to Colombia . Morton said the money will be forfeited in accordance with the laws of the nations where it was seized , with Colombia keeping $ 28 million and Mexico getting $ 13 million . `` None of these monies will be forfeited to the United States , '' he said . While large , this month 's cash seizure is not a record . In March of 2007 , officials in Mexico officials confiscated $ 207 million in cash in what was then called the largest drug-related cash seizure in history . ICE is the largest investigative arm of the Department of Homeland Security , investigating financial crime , trade fraud , narcotics smuggling and cash smuggling , the agency said . ICE was established in 2003 after the Homeland Security Act of 2002 . CNN 's Mike M. Ahlers and Elaine Quijano contributed to this report .
Joint operation nets $ 28 million in cash hidden in shipping containers . Colombian , Mexican authorities working with U.S. agents seize money in two ports . Washington Immigration and Customs Enforcement calls ports key points in drug trade route .