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Some of the banana boxes with the illegal cargo
Photo: Customs Essen / dpa
Huge drug discovery in Duisburg: customs officials found more than half a ton of cocaine hidden between bananas in a sea container from Ecuador.
As the Essen customs investigation office announced on Monday, the officials confiscated the 635 kilograms on October 27th.
The cocaine, pressed into blocks and sealed in foil, was in several cardboard boxes between bananas.
These had therefore arrived in a container from Ecuador via the Dutch seaport of Vlissingen to Germany.
During the unloading, employees of the company receiving the bananas noticed the drug packages that had obviously been loaded and informed the customs office.
This is conducting further investigations on behalf of the Duisburg public prosecutor's office.
According to customs, the street value of the cocaine is around 44.5 million euros.
zob/AFP/dpa