Customs authorities in the Dutch port of Rotterdam located 3.5 tons of cocaine camouflaged in bananas from Ecuador, the largest seizure in the Netherlands so far in 2023.
Cocaine in Ecuadorian bananas by tons continues to reach European ports. This Monday, the Dutch Prosecutor’s Office reported that Customs seized 3.5 tons of the drug in a container from Ecuador.
The seizure would be “the largest discovery of the year so far” in the country, the authority said.
This container of bananas was destined for a company in the Dutch province of Zeeland, although the company has nothing to do with drug trafficking, the Prosecutor’s Office suspects.
It is estimated that the seized drugs have a value of USD 293 million in the illegal market.
It was also mentioned that cocaine was introduced into the container with bananas in Ecuador.
The port of Guayaquil has become a springboard for all the drugs that leave the country, under the modality of cargo contamination.
The shipment has already been destroyed by a special team, and an investigation has been launched involving the entire HARC team (Customs, National Prosecutor’s Office, Port Police and the Financial Crimes Prosecutor’s Office).
This team intercepted a total of 46.7 tons of cocaine in the port of Rotterdam during the past year.
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