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The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it found cocaine parcels worth nearly $ 18 million in a cargo of bananas.
Russ Widstrand / Getty Images
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Russ Widstrand / Getty Images
The Texas Department of Criminal Justice said it found cocaine parcels worth nearly $ 18 million in a cargo of bananas.
Russ Widstrand / Getty Images
This drug seizure is banana.
According to the Texas Criminal Justice Department (TDCJ), two sergeants in a Texas prison seized two pallets of bananas donated to Ports of America in Freeport.
The bananas were donated to the Wayne Scott Unit of Brazoria County, Texas. The department says they were already ripe – and according to USA Today, they have never been claimed at the port.
But the 45 banana boxes also hid a secret.
"One of the boxes was different from the others," said the TDCJ. A sergeant released the box from a strap and opened it.
"Inside, under a pack of bananas, he found another package!" TDCJ said. "Inside" what appeared to be a white powdery substance. "
They alerted US customs officials, who tested the powder and found it was cocaine. This triggered a search of all the cargo of bananas.
And the results were staggering: according to the TDCJ, officials found 540 packages of cocaine. They say the market value of the drug is almost $ 18 million.
The photos published by the department show piles of neat little boxes, apparently filled with narcotics.
The US Drug Enforcement Administration and US Customs and Border Protection are investigating the discovery.
Authorities did not disclose where the consignment came from or who the intended recipient was.
"Sometimes life gives you lemons, sometimes it gives you bananas," writes TDCJ. "And sometimes it gives you something you would never expect!"
In fact, cocaine concealed in banana boxes seems to be a surprisingly common occurrence. Here are some recent incidents:
- In April, Spanish police found some 9 tons of cocaine in a container of bananas from Colombia, reported the Associated Press.
- In February, the Albanian police also discovered 1,350 pounds. narcotics in another shipment of bananas from Colombia, according to the press service.
- The Romanian authorities said in July 2016 that they had discovered some 2.3 tons of cocaine in a shipment of bananas from Colombia and other South American countries, AP reported.
- According to the BBC, 13 supermarkets in Germany received Colombian banana cans containing cocaine in May 2015. The same supermarket chain, Aldi, also received cocaine in a banana shipment in January of the same year.
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