$ 18 Million Cocaine Appear in Banana Boxes Given at Texas Prison

"Sometimes life gives you lemons, sometimes it gives you bananas, and sometimes it gives you something you would not expect!", The department posted on Facebook.

On Friday, the department's agents picked up two donated fruit palettes and quickly discovered something about the weight of the boxes.

In the boxes, officials discovered 540 packages of cocaine hidden in banana packages. Police valued the value of drugs at nearly $ 18 million. The donation came from Port of America in Freeport, Texas, according to the department, although it is not known who or when cocaine entered the expedition.

"Several federal entities are investigating and this is a pretty important finding for them," Desel said. The DEA and US Customs and Border Protection continue to investigate, said the Texas Department.

"Our correctional officers and correctional officers are trained to notice things that do not seem right," Desel said. "They are doing their job, not just in our units, but elsewhere, and they have found something good today."

This is not the first time drug traffickers are trying to use fruits to hide contraband products. In 2017, nearly two tons of marijuana were disguised as lime in a commercial consignment crossing the Texas-Mexico border. More than 34,000 of the fake fruit packages were discovered by an imaging inspection system and a counter-narcotics team. The drugs are valued at about $ 789,467, according to the US Customs and Border Protection statement.

Two years ago, 2,493 pounds of marijuana were hidden in carrot-shaped packages from Mexico.

Melissa Gray and Lauren Leslie of CNN contributed to this report.