Supermarkets in the Czech Republic received an unexpected delivery of nearly €80 million worth of cocaine after it was sent to them by accident from drug smugglers.
Police were called to supermarkets in the capital city of Prague as well as the towns of Jicin and Rychnov nad Kneznou after workers unpacking the deliveries spotted suspicious blocks packed amid bananas.
Authorities dispatched dog units to investigate the crates, which are thought to have come from Colombia, and the boxes were found to contain 2,200lbs of cocaine, with a street value of nearly €80 million (£68m).
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Images released by police in the central European country show numerous rectangular packages wrapped in what appears to be green plastic slotted in among the bananas.
In a statement addressing the discovery on Twitter, Czech police said criminal investigators had discovered 'goods of the same batch were distributed to several other places in the Czech Republic'.
"Therefore, in cooperation with the [customs administration of the Czech Republic] and other entities, it is currently conducting inspections of these places and other actions," the police continued.
Czech police are now planning to work with international authorities to further their investigation into the bizarre banana delivery, saying: "Information about consignments is kept outside the territory of the Czech Republic. For this reason we will use the institute of international police and judicial cooperation.
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“The case was taken over by the National Drug Control Centre, which will conduct the investigation. We will provide more information as soon as possible.”
The crates containing the cocaine are believed to have arrived in the German port of Hamburg before being sent to the Czech Republic, where it was distributed among various supermarkets.
Discovering cocaine among supermarket produce is not a first for the Czech Republic, as in 2015 220lbs of cocaine was found in another supermarket in Prague.
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The latest incident comes as Italian police reported seizing 4.3 tonnes of cocaine worth nearly €250m (£214m) in street value, in the city of Trieste in the north-eastern region of Italy.
The seizure marked one of the largest ever in Europe and came about as the result of a collaboration between Italian financial police, anti-mafia investigators and US Homeland Security, The Guardian reports.
The bust is believed to have dealt a serious blow to Colombia’s largest drug cartel, the Gulf Clan, whose alleged boss was extradited last month from Colombia to the US facing indictments in three federal courts.
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Topics: Drugs, World News, Shopping, Food and Drink
Emily Brown