Greek police reported seizing 598 pounds of cocaine, with an estimated value of over US$6.5 million, hidden inside a container of bananas imported from Ecuador. The operation followed information from the United Kingdom's National Crime Agency that the shipment was en route to the northern Greek port of Thessaloniki.
Police officers located the cocaine concealed in brick-sized packages inside the container. Most of the drugs were removed before the container was loaded onto a truck. Video footage released by police showed bricks falling from the opened container, with images of the packages marked "Diesel."
© Greek Police Department
The truck was destined for Aspropyrgos, a suburb of Athens more than 300 miles to the south. Police arrested three men on Saturday as they opened the container. The suspects include two Greek nationals, a 40-year-old owner of a haulage company and a 32-year-old, along with a 47-year-old Bulgarian citizen. According to police, the Bulgarian suspect was in contact with a drug gang and organized the collection and transport of the container, while the 32-year-old was responsible for distributing the cocaine through other gang members.
Authorities stated they are seeking additional individuals believed to be part of the distribution network. The three men are scheduled to appear before a prosecutor on Monday.
Banana shipments have been repeatedly used to conceal cocaine in international smuggling cases. In July, Russian authorities seized 1,800 pounds of cocaine hidden beneath bananas, describing it as the country's largest drug seizure from Latin America that year. In May, a Norwegian fruit distributor found a packet of cocaine in a banana box, leading customs officials to uncover a 147-kilogram stash.
In December last year, Dominican Republic authorities confiscated nearly 9.5 tons of cocaine from a banana shipment at the nation's main seaport. In August 2024, Greek customs agents seized more than 200 pounds of cocaine from a ship carrying bananas, while the previous month in Ecuador, police dogs located over six tons of cocaine concealed in bananas bound for Germany.
In March of the previous year, Bulgarian customs officials intercepted about 170 kilograms of cocaine from a vessel transporting bananas from Ecuador. The month before that, British authorities reported finding over 12,500 pounds of cocaine hidden in bananas, marking the largest single seizure of hard drugs in the country's history.
Source: CBS News