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Italy police seize 2.7 tons of cocaine in banana shipment

May 16, 2023

Cocaine worth an estimated €800 million was confiscated by police in Calabria, the base of operations for one of Europe's most powerful organized crime groups.

https://p.dw.com/p/4RP1h
A still from a video by the Italian police shows some of the cocaine they seized in the port of Gioia Tauro in the southern region of Calabria
The cocaine was hidden among 78 tons of bananasImage: Guardia di Finanza/dpa/picture alliance

Police in Italy have seized 2.7 tons of cocaine smuggled in a batch of bananas at the port of Gioia Tauro, authorities announced on Tuesday.

It is the latest major drug bust to take place in the area of Calabria, where authorities have struggled to eradicate the influence of the 'Ndrangheta organized crime group.

What do we know so far?

The Guardia di Finanza police force said they found the "extremely pure cocaine" worth more than €800 million ($880 million) in refrigerated containers that had been shipped from Ecuador.

The containers were bound for Armenia and were due to go by the Georgian city of Batum.

The drugs were discovered in the containers thanks to specialized scanners and with the help of a sniffer dog named Joel, police said. 

A still from a video by the Italian police a sniffer dog named Joel, searching a shipment of bananas that contained tons of cocaine the police seized in the Italian port of Gioia Tauro in the southern region of Calabria
Police say a sniffer dog named Joel was instrumental in discovering the cocaine hidden among bananasImage: Guardia di Finanza/dpa/picture alliance

It is the latest discovery of drugs shipped in fruit containers from Ecuador.

Police said they had found a further 600 kilograms (1,320 pounds) of cocaine in the last few days.

Could 'Ndrangheta be tied to the drug shipment?

Gioia Tauro is in the southern Calabria region, the home to the 'Ndrangheta, which is one of the largest and most powerful crime syndicates in Europe.

It has eclipsed the Sicilian mafia by transporting tens of billions of euros worth of cocaine from South America to Europe over the past decades.

It was unclear whether the group was linked to the latest discovery.

lo/wd (Reuters, dpa)