Bananas appear to be the fruit of choice for South American drug traffickers, after the seizure of a number of cocaine shipments in Europe. Most of the cocaine originated from Colombia.
In July, sniffer dogs found 6,000kg of cocaine worth an estimated £173m hidden in a banana shipment in Ecuador that was destined for Germany. In August, customs agents in the northern Greek city of Thessaloniki discovered about 93kg of cocaine in a ship from Ecuador carrying bananas.
In May, about 250kg of cocaine was found hidden in banana boxes at a stock warehouse in Colmar in eastern France. Police also found a GPS tracking device in the consignment. Detectives believed the drugs were intended to be delivered to Germany but had been sent to France by mistake.
In March, Bulgarian customs officials seized 170kg of cocaine from a ship transporting bananas to Europe from Ecuador, while a month earlier, British officials said they had found 5.7 tonnes of cocaine in a similar shipment, the largest ever class A drug bust in the UK.